


Red Memories

by heyhay13



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse, Canon Compliant until Season 6, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Langst, M/M, Rape Recovery, Rape is not shown on screen, Rape/Non-con Elements, Then follows main events of canon - mostly, They are going to Olkarion not Earth though, eventual Klance, spoilers for s6 and s7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-10 12:40:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 31,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15949541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyhay13/pseuds/heyhay13
Summary: Lance has left the team and Keith is left to ask Red what happened. Red gives him her answer in the form of video memories from when Keith left the team, to Lance's departure. Now Keith is the one to watch the effect the clone had and the fall of the Red Paladin.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Time format is loosely year.month.day with time in varga.dobash Castle Time.

// 2614.04.28 19.01CT //

The screen lit up with the image of Lance, an uncharacteristic grimace on his face as he sat in Red’s pilot’s seat.

              “Red… I think something is wrong with Shiro,” He admitted. “I know he’s stressed without Keith, and he came back after a second time with the Galra, but he seems so different now. He doesn’t listen to the team – Even Pidge! He just ignored her idea in the briefing today. I mean, I’m used to it at this point, but… I haven’t ever seen him act that way to Pidge.” Lance paused briefly.

              Red simply gave a slight purr in response for him to continue. 

              “I know he has a lot on his plate, but that doesn’t mean he can put that on them. Pidge works her ass off, and I thought her and Shiro were close?” He said, “Not that I would know for sure, I mean, Pidge and Shiro don’t talk to me that much, with how busy they are. Which is fine! I just… got that brother-y vibe from their relationship.”

              _“Have you spoken with him about it my paladin?”_ Red asked.

              “No, you know I haven’t asked him…” Lance said with a flat chuckle. “I guess I’ll ask Hunk if he have noticed anything either. Maybe it’s just me.”

              “ _It is a good place to start, yes._ ”

              “Thanks Red” Lance said, giving a little smile before he got up. “I’ll let you know how it goes.” He added before heading out of the lion’s cockpit.

//

 

              “Red… what was that?” Keith asked, mainly stunned to hear Red’s ‘voice’ in the video. He had thought it was Lance being Lance and recording himself.

              _“Memories.”_

              “ _Your_ memories?” Keith asked in surprise. He didn’t know the lions recorded like that or could keep them in stuck a way.

              _“Watch. Watch if you wish to know what happened to my paladin.”_

// 2614.05.09 22.31CT //

              “Shiro! Could I talk to you for, like, just a second?” Lance asked. This time he wasn’t in the cockpit, instead, the view was from the Red Lion’s eyes, looking down in the hanger at her paladin before her. Shiro came into view from the direction of the Black Lion.

              “Yes Lance?” He asked, seeming rather tired.

              “When we were in the astral plane, what where you trying to tell me?” Lance asked and Shiro looked confused.

              “What are you talking about?” The Black Paladin replied.

              “Today, on the mission-thing, we were on the astral plane and you called out, but I couldn’t hear you.”

              “I… I have no idea what you’re talking about Lance. You all went to the astral plane?” That made Lance pause.

              “Uh, yeah, you were there too. You don’t remember?” He asked and Shiro shook his head.

              “I don’t remember anything like that today.” Shiro said. “Was that all?”

              “Ah… Yeah I guess so.” Lance said, stumped.

              “Great. Training tomorrow at 0600, be ready.” Shiro told him then walked out of the hanger. Lance stayed, turning to look up at the Red lion before he sighed and followed after the leader.

//

 

// 2614.05.10 13.41CT //

“He just LEFT without us! He left and ran off with LOTOR without US!” Lance nearly shouted, pacing in the cockpit.

              _“The Black Paladin pushed for action.”_

              “We told him this was a bad idea and he just went ahead against the team!” He snapped. “Even Allura said it was a bad idea, and she _loves_ Lotor’s ideas! I thought we we’re supposed to be a team, not a dictatorship. We needed a better plan then just showing up to the Galra’s fight club!” At that, the Red Lion did not respond, instead letting Lance work out the anger until the Cuban tired and finally slumped into the pilot seat once more.

              “I mean, it worked out in the end… so maybe he was right. It just feels wrong. I didn’t think Shiro would ever pull the “I’m the leader so just do what I say” card…” he sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.

              “I thought I was supposed to be the right-hand man now, but I have no idea how to do that for Shiro.” He muttered.

              _“You will find a way, we are the right hand of Voltron.”_ Red purred, but Lance looked far from convinced.

“I could help when Keith was in charge… but Shiro doesn’t listen to what I have to say. Hell, he hardly seems to care what any of us say nowadays.” Lance fell silent for several minutes, thinking it over.

              “I… I just wish Keith was here. He’d know what to do.” the boy added quietly. Several more seconds of silence fell before a small ping rang and Lance looked up.

              “Lance, I told you we’re doing team training after lunch. Get up here or we’re starting without you.” Shiro’s voice came over the comms.

              “I’ll be right there Shiro.” Lance replied before pulling himself to his feet. “I’ll see you later girl.” He said, patting Red’s console and heading out.

//  

 

              “Haggar, that bitch was controlling him for so long.” Keith growled.

              “ _No.”_ Red replied, and Keith was surprised. “ _The clone acted of his own accord to aid the Galran prince.”_

              “What?”

              “ _He believed himself the true Black Paladin. The clone had no knowledge of his true origin. Did my sister not tell you this?”_ Red asked, and Keith shook his head.

              “No… I never asked, but I thought he was always Haggar’s puppet.”

              “ _My sister would not have accepted the clone as her pilot if he was an empty vessel for the witch to puppet. He started with the heart of the Black Paladin, but the witch twisted his mind to darkness.”_

Keith’s heart sank at the knowledge, remembering the flashes of pain and emotion the clone had shown in their fight. Red let him sit in his thoughts for a few ticks before beginning the next recording.

 

// 2614.05.27 10.15CT //

              Lance walked back into the cockpit to be greeted by a purr from the Red Lion. His head hung low as he sat down.

              _“What is it, my paladin?”_ She purred to him.

              “Do you think Lotor’s plan is right?” He asked, looking up.

              “ _Do you?”_

              “No. Well, at least I think not. I… I thought Allura would agree. People still need our help. It doesn’t feel right to stop and focus on his ships. We’re Voltron! Sendak is out there and we’re just… building. I know Lotor says it’ll “better the empire and therefore the galaxy”,” Lance said in a poor mimic of Lotor’s accent. “But what if we’re wrong? What if more quintessence just makes it all worse?”

              _“You believe it is the wrong course?”_

“I don’t know!” Lance said with a sigh. “It just doesn’t feel right. The plan doesn’t feel right, Lotor doesn’t feel right, and neither does Shiro. But I’m the only one that thinks that. Even Hunk blew me off.” He huffed. “Him and Pidge are all in for designing these ships. Allura’s with Lotor all day and Coran and Shiro are busy doing… leader things. I want to be doing more.”

              “ _We cannot face Sendak alone.”_

              “That’s not what I meant Red, I-” Lance started but Red continued.

              “ _But we can be prepared for when the time to face him comes.”_ She said and Lance paused.

              “Like training?” He asked, his face scrunched up at the idea. “That was Keith’s thing.”

              “ _Who the team no longer has. Hone your skills and you will be ready to defend your team in the face of the enemy, no matter the situation.”_

“You… you’re not wrong. I’ll think about it.” Lance replied before the memory ended.

//

 

               “You told _Lance_ to go _train_ in his free time?” Keith snorted, amused, but the Red Lion growled.

              _“Yes. And he did. He did well on his own and he learned more than many of you.”_ She snapped, disappointed in Keith’s lack of faith in his teammate.

 

// 2614.05.27 00.23CT //

              The inside of the Red Lion looked damaged, her interior lights flickering with a few blown out. There were scorch marks on the walls and in the center of the screen sat Lance. He was still in his paladin armor, his helmet tossed to the side hap hazardously. His knees were tucked to his chest and he was breathing hard as he tried to maintain composure.

              “ _You are alright, my paladin. You are okay.”_ Red whispered softly and Lance let out a small hiccup as a few tears ran down his face.

              “You get hit by an electric blast and you’re reassuring me? I don’t deserve you girl.” He said with a sad laugh, wiping the tears off his face with little success as more kept coming.

              “ _Your heart stopped my paladin, that is not trivial.”_ Red said, trying to sooth him with purrs. “ _But you are safe now. You are still here, with me.”_ In response, Lance cried harder.

              “I-I know, thank you Red.” He said, shaking still as more tears spilled.

              “ _Safe.”_ She purred again and continued with soft reassurances until Lance feel asleep in his chair to the sound of her purrs.

//

              Keith sat in a stunned silence and Red waited patiently.

              “What do you mean his heart stopped?” Keith whispered.

              “ _We took the blast equal to an ion cannon to save my sister and the Princess. The impact damaged my hull, but the shock it sent through the cockpit stopped my paladin’s heart.”_ Red said mournfully. “ _I was unable to protect him.”_

              “But, he’s still alive, so you saved him, right?” Keith asked quickly.

              “ _No. The Princess came to his aid and resurrected him using her own quintessence. Without her… my paladin would have been lost.”_ She told him, and Keith could feel his own vision misting up at the realization that they nearly lost Lance forever.

 

// 2614.06.02 01.05CT //

              The next memory did not lighten the mood. While the interior of the Red Lion was cleaned up and back to normal, Lance sat, shaking like a leaf in the pilot’s seat with a dark bruise forming over his cheek bone.

              _“Paladin, what is wrong?”_ Red questioned, sensing his distress the moment he entered her hanger.

              “S-Shiro. Shiro hit me.” Lance said, voice barely above a whisper.

              “ _HE WHAT?”_ Red roared and Lance flinched at the sound. He curled in more on himself and Red tried to control her temper for the sake of her paladin.

              “I’m sure he didn’t mean to! I-I asked if he thought we were doing the right thing trusting Lotor and he got really upset. He looked really stressed out, I-I shouldn’t have brought it up at such a bad time is all.” Lance rationalized quickly.

              “ _That does not give him the right to harm his teammates!”_ Red growled.  
              “He probably just got overwhelmed and let it out!” Lance said quickly.

              “ _Why do you defend his actions?”_

              “He… He’s my hero! I don’t think he would just attack me for no reason. Plus, he’s been out of sorts lately and all…” Lance trailed off. “Besides, I was bothering him. I’m sure it was an accident.”

              “ _And if it happens again?”_ Red pushed, and Lance sank in on himself.

              “It...It’ll be fine.” He said, not sounding convinced himself.


	2. Chapter 2

_//_

_“And if it happens again?” Red pushed, and Lance sank in on himself._

_“It...It’ll be fine.” He said, not sounding convinced himself._

//

 

Keith didn’t know what to say.  He hadn’t talked to the team about the clone yet. He only knew the clone had been rough on the time for a while until he became aggressive in the end.

“Did… did Shiro hurt them all?” Keith asked, scared of the answer Red would give.

“ _No.”_ Red replied, but her tone did not bring Keith relief. Instead, it was bitter, almost vindictive.

“Did they know?” He followed up. Instead of answering, the Red Lion continued to the next scene.

 

// 2614.06.7 17.43CT //

              Lance came on screen, showing him typing a code into Red’s console screen. Another blackening bruise colored his right eye and his lower lip was split. He was shaking, clearly trying to hold it together. With the code punched in, he took a few deep breaths to steady himself before sending the call through. After a few moments of waiting, the screen lit up with a Galran face.

              “Paladin Lance, what is the emergency?” Kolivan asked, stone faced as ever.

              “Uh, it’s, um, not an emergency exactly, but I was hoping to talk to Keith?” Lance asked nervously, and the Blade’s leader frowned.

              “I gave Voltron this frequency for emergency transmissions only.”

              “I know! I just, really need to talk to him and we don’t have another way to call.” Lance said quickly.

              “I am sorry Paladin Lance, but we cannot risk communications revealing vital locations for such frivolous things. Besides, Keith has already been sent out on a mission with one of our other operatives.” Kolivan said.

              “Oh. Well, um, my bad. When he gets back, could you ask him to contact me? And me specifically? It’s about… well, the black paladin.” Lance explained.

              “Very well, but I will still ask you not to use this frequency again.”

              “Yeah! Totally, my bad-” Lance started to apologize but Kolivan cut the line. Lance let out a sigh and closed the blank screen. He sank into his seat.

              “ _I am sure he will relay your message, my paladin.”_ Red purred, trying to reassure him.

              “Y-Yeah. I hope so, Red.” Lance sniffed, wiping at his eyes as they watered up. “I just don’t know what to do. Keith knows Shiro. Maybe he’d know what to do… or not, maybe he won’t believe me at all.”

              “ _Talk with the others, please my paladin.”_ Red urged, and Lance shook his head. 

              “I can’t! They all look up to him. We need a Black Paladin, and if Keith is still out, I can’t risk messing up the team dynamic right now!” He said quickly. “I-I can’t risk the safety of the universe over a few bruises.”

//

 

              “He tried to contact me?” Keith said quietly. His heart sank as he saw the date of the video. That would have aligned with his quest with Krolia, one that he would not return from until he finally reunited with Voltron.

              “ _Many times.”_ Red told him. “ _My paladin tried many ways to contact you. None were successful.”_

              “But why me? He has the whole team!” Keith reasoned.

              “ _A team that would not listen.”_

 

// 2614.06.8 11.01CT //

              Another scene from the Red Lion’s eyes. This time, she looked to the three paladins in the Lions’ hanger. Pidge and Hunk sat together at a workstation with Lance sitting at one of the other stations, staring blankly at the screen in front of him.

              “Okay Lance, let’s test this puppy!” Hunk said, but Lance didn’t respond.

              “Lance?” Hunk repeated, turning around to look over at the Red Paladin. When Lance again didn’t reply, he chucked and leaned into Pidge.

              “Oh, I think Loverboy Lance is distracted not thinking about the Princess,” Hunk chuckled, and Pidge giggled before flicking one of her spare bolts at the back of Lance’s head.  

              “Ow! What the heck!” Lance whined, rubbing his head where the bolt struck. When he turned, Pidge and Hunk laughed harder.

              “Come on Lance, quit day dreaming about the Princess and test the connection, please.” Hunk said.

              “I am not daydreaming about the Princess!” He snapped.

              “That’s good, because I’m pretty sure she has a thing for Lotor.” Pidge said “Heck, He’s probably proposing right now!” She giggled and turned to Hunk. Lance looked away as the two of them played out a mock scene of how it would go. He ignored them, instead reached up to lightly touch around the makeup concealing his last bruise.

              “Haha. Very funny.” Lance said, no humor in his voice.

              “Oh, come on Lance! It’s totally obvious she’s on your mind.” Hunk said.

              “No. She isn’t… actually I was thinking about Shiro.” Lance said and both Hunk and Pidge paused.

              “What? What about him?” Pidge asked.

              “Hasn’t he seemed… Off lately?” Lance asked them.

              “Yeah, sure. But he’s been totally stressed with the whole, helping rebuild the Galra empire thing, you know?” Hunk pointed out.

              “Yeah, I know, I just… he’s been kind of mean lately.” Lance said, and Pidge frowned.

              “Are you still mad about him going off with Lotor for the Kral Zera?” She snapped.

              “Well, yeah, but it’s not just that-”

              “We already talked about it Lance. He said he would talk to us more next time, but he was right in the end anyways, right?” She said.

              “But he’s-”

              “Just trust him Lance. Just because you’re worked up about Lotor and Allura doesn’t mean you should doubt Shiro for trusting him.” Pidge said. Lance’s shoulders sagged, and he again touched at his face.

              “Yeah… you’re right Pidge.” He muttered.

              “Of course I am!” Pidge said, and she and Hunk laughed again.

//

 

// 2614.06.14 13.45CT //

              “Maybe it really just was a bad spot Red.” Lance said, looking better than he had in the past few scenes. He was actually smiling a bit this time and Red purred happily. “We played a game today and we all had a lot of fun!”

              “ _I am glad to hear it, my paladin._ ” Red purred.

              “Coran called it Monsters and Mana, and I played as a rogue and Shiro was a dork, all he wanted to be was a paladin!” He chuckled.

              “ _But… he already is a paladin, is he not?”_

              “That’s what Coran and I said!” Lance laughed. “I… I think we’ll make it through this Red. I think we just needed some fun.” He said with a smile then relaxed back in his seat.

//

 

              Keith smiled softly, relieved to see a genuine smile on Lance’s face.

              “Sounds like they had fun.” He said and Red purred.

              “ _It was one of the good days… one of the last.”_ Red said softly.

              “The last?”

 

// 2614.06.15 02.14CT //

              Lance came stumbling into the cockpit. He was in his pajamas, holding his pants up loosely in one had. His hair was a mess and when he got closer to the front of the cockpit, his face looked equally disheveled. He was hiccupping with soft sobs and tears ran down his face. Red immediately was pulled out of her resting state at the site.

              “ _What happened? What is wrong?”_ She said urgently. Lance chocked on another cry and crumpled onto his seat with a wince. He pulled his legs up to his chest, shaking hard as he tried to calm his breathing. Red tried helplessly to sooth him, releasing soft purrs of affection as he struggled to speak.

              “S-Shiro h-he…” Lance started, trying to wipe away tears that refused to stop. The motion caused his sleeve to slide down his arm, exposing a bright red burn around his wrist. Red couldn’t stop the snarl at the site.

              “ _WHAT HAS HE DONE?”_ She roared, and Lance cried out at the volume. Red quickly tried to rein in her anger, knowing it would not help her paladin in this state. “ _Please, my paladin, tell me what happened.”_ She pleaded in a much softer tone.

              “I-I made him angry again.” Lance started again. “I-I asked about Lotor’s ships again, t-they’re nearly done a-and I don’t think we should f-finish them. I told S-Shiro and he got really mad that I b-brought it up again.” He explained and Red urged him to continue.

              “H-He said I don’t respect his c-command, s-so h-he’d make m-me.” Lance said, his voice breaking more as a fresh wave of tears spilled down his cheeks. It took all Red had to hold it together and not seek out the Black Paladin’s blood. Instead, she stayed and purred in her paladin’s mind as he broke down further.

              “I-It hurts Red.” Lance whimpered, pulling his legs closer together after he regained control of his breathing again.

              “ _Coran will be able to help, my paladin.”_ Red said, and Lance shook his head instantly.

              “I can’t!” He said quickly. “I-I can’t face him like this.”

              “ _Will you see anyone?”_ Red asked him, and Lance paused, then again shook his head.

              “I-I can’t Red.” He cried helplessly.

//


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the comments and feedback! It really has helped me stay motivated for this story!

Keith felt sick. “He… He didn’t…” he pleaded, hoping that it wasn’t true. He didn’t want to believe that the clone would go as far as to assault Lance like that. The Red Lion just whined softly in response.

Keith looked back to the screen, seeing it stopped on the picture of Lance, curled up in the same seat he currently sat in. Keith looked closer at Lance’s wrist, disgusted as he realized it was in the shape of a hand, one he recognized as the burn Shiro’s Galran hand would leave. That meant the clone had held Lance down not just by force, but with pain. Looking over Lance closer, Keith could tell why Lance had been holding his pants up when he walked into the lion. Keith spotted the fabric tear down Lance’s pant side and the dark red stain running down between his legs.

“Oh God…” Keith shuttered, and tears ran down his cheeks. Red stayed silent, though her presence in Keith’s mind was full of mourning and sadness. He didn’t know what to do, so they sat quietly as Keith tried to process his thoughts. Keith looked over his friend, not understanding how Lance kept this hidden, how something this big could have gone unnoticed by the team. It wasn’t just bruises Lance could hide with makeup this time, the burn marks and splashes of blood.

“Is… is there more you wanted to show me?” he asked quietly.

“ _Yes,”_ Red replied. _“Are you ready to continue?”_

Keith’s stomach twisted at the thought, but he nodded anyways. He wanted, no, needed to fully understand what else happened to Lance while he was gone. Plus, he needed time to think of what he was going to say to the team when he walked out. Red accepted his answer and the scene on the screen changed once more.

 

// 2614.06.15 08.53CT //

              Again, Red looked out into the Lions’ hanger, but this time, none of the paladins were in sight. Instead, Red looked to the Black Lion before releasing a thunderous roar.

              “ _WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”_ Red shouted to her sister. “ _HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?”_

_“I am sorry sister, but you do not understand the full situation-”_ The Black Lion began, only to have Red snarl again to cut her off.

              “ _There is no excuse for this! Revoke your paladin NOW!”_ Red snarled, enraged that Black was trying to make excuses. As if anything could excuse _this._

              “ _I cannot do that, I need him. We need him for Voltron”_

_“Then call back Keith! Call him back and banish this paladin now!”_ Red demanded, and the Black Lion looked down.

              “ _Sister, I cannot, please understand!”_

_“No! I will not let you do this again! I will not let you allow another beast like Zarkon to exist!”_ Red roared and the other lions began to stir at her words.

              “ _Red I said I will not! The truth will come to light soon and all will be right once more. Please, I beg you to stand down and to trust me.”_ Black urged, but Red’s anger seared hotter and she roared in outrage again. This time, the hanger doors flew open and the paladins came running in.

“What’s going on in-?” Shiro started, but the instant Red spotted Shiro, she physically lunged at him and pinned the Black Paladin to the ground, digging large claws into his chest.

              “Lance! Control your lion!” Shiro choked out, but Lance was frozen to the spot.

              “Lance! Please!” Allura called, while her and the other paladins tried to force the Red Lion’s paw up. Lance snapped out of it and turned to his lion.

              “R-Red! Stop it, you’re hurting him!” He said quickly.

              “ _He deserves it!”_ Red shouted, though only Lance and the other Lions could hear her cries.

              “Red no! Let him go! We need him!” Lance replied, pulling on her paw. Though the motion itself did nothing to move her massive paw, the action made her stop. Her paladin was on the verge of panicking, a stricken look in his eyes as he pleaded with her. Her anger turned to grief and she pulled back, retreating to her place in the hanger while Allura and Hunk pulled Shiro to his feet.

              “Are you alright Shiro?” Allura asked quickly.

              “I’m fine, just a little bruised,” Shiro said, brushing himself off a bit.

              “Lance what was that?” Pidge asked, and Lance swallowed hard. He glanced at Shiro to see the Black Paladin glaring at him.

              “I-I don’t know, the Red Lion really has a will of her own I guess,” Lance stammered. The others seemed to accept it for now, more concerned with dragging Shiro out to the med bay so Coran could check on him. Lance stayed behind, waiting until they left to go over to the Red Lion’s feet.

              “Red… you can’t do that ever again,” Lance pleaded.

              “ _I don’t understand, do you not hate him after what he did?”_ Red asked.

              “No! No, I don’t, I couldn’t ever hate Shiro! Last night was different, just a mistake, I’m sure of it,” He reasoned quickly. “Please, just promise me you won’t hurt him again?” Red looked down at her paladin’s pleading eyes and sighed.

              “ _Very well. I will not attack him again.”_ She purred, leaning her head down to his level and Lance reached up to gently stroke her muzzle.

              “Thank you,” he said softly as he pressed his forehead against her muzzle.

//

 

              “Did Black not tell you about Shiro being a clone?” Keith asked her.

              “ _No. Not until you all knew as well. She explained all after that… but I had no idea that the Shiro that assaulted my paladin was a false.”_ Red explained. “ _Still, I should never have made that promise.”_ Keith’s heart sank and the implication of her words.

              “Thank you for trying to help him,” he told her. “I am glad he at least had you through all of this.” He added and Red purred softly in appreciation.

              “ _He should have had more. He deserves more.”_ Keith nodded solemnly in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than the other two, but I wanted to keep this as a set before moving further into Red's memory logs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You beautiful commenters <3 You all give me so much motivation to keep this going!

// 2614.06.21 18.49CT //

              “ _My paladin, this is the fourth time this movement you have come here for rest…”_ The Red Lion said as Lance came into her cockpit. He forced a smile, though it was a poor cover for the dark bags under his eyes and the exhaustion that seemed to seep into his very core. “ _I must insist that you sleep in a bed, my paladin.”_

              “Aw, come on Red, aren’t you happy to see me?” Lance teased as he plopped down in his chair.

              “ _You know I am, but I am not happy to see you like this. You need real rest.”_ Red insisted.

              “I think napping here is just fine.” Lance said with a yawn and shifted around. “See? Perfectly comfy.”

              “ _Lance.”_ Lance’s eyes widened at his name. Red rarely used it, but she didn’t know how else to make him listen.

              “Red, please, I-I don’t want to leave.” Lance admitted, and Red’s worry increased immediately.

              “ _Did he touch you again?”_ She asked instantly.

              “No! No, n-not like that.” He said quickly, and she didn’t like his wording, hinting that Shiro was still hurting him. She didn’t like that her paladin was starting to hide it from even her. “I-I just… can’t sleep in my bed. It just makes me think about… it.” He muttered quietly.

              “ _He attacked you in your own room?”_ Red asked, and Lance nodded. “ _I am sorry my paladin, I did not know that.”_ She said softly.

              “It’s okay, I didn’t exactly tell you.” Lance replied. “And... It won’t happen again if I’m in here instead.” He added, and Red’s heart sank.

              “ _No one will harm you in my protection.”_ She promised, and Lance looked up.

“So… is it okay if I stay in here?” He asked.

              “ _Of course, may I at least request you use my sleeping quarters, not the cockpit?”_ Red asked, and Lance grimaced. _“I promise, I will be as close to you in there as I am in here.”_

“Alright… I guess that does sound better than the chair.” He conceded and got up.

              “ _Thank you. Goodnight, my paladin.”_ She purred.

              “Night Red.”

//

 

              “Did he stay with you often?” Keith asked.

              “ _He stayed every night after that.”_ Red replied, and Keith’s eyes widened.

              “Every night?”

              “ _He told me it was the only place he could get away.”_ Red said softly.

 

// 2614.06.25 11.08CT //

              “LANCE! Get out here and explain yourself NOW!” Shiro ordered. He was standing in front of the Red Lion, still in his paladin armor and practically fuming from the results of their last training session. Lance was shaking in his seat as he looked down at Shiro from the safety of Red’s cockpit.

              “Lance that was not a suggestion. You would have gotten Hunk killed if that simulation was real!” He snapped. Besides him, Hunk looked up.

              “Shiro, it wasn’t his fault, I wasn’t paying enough attention to-” Hunk piped up and Shiro’s head snapped around to glare at him.

              “And who should have been covering your back??” He shouted, and Hunk flinched. Lance immediately got up when he saw Shiro turn on his friend.

              “ _My paladin, do not go out there!”_ Red said quickly.

              “I have to, I can’t let him take it out on Hunk!” Lance replied, rushing to the back of the cockpit but when he tried to open the door, Red refused and kept it closed. “Red! Open the door!”

              “ _I can’t let you go out there! He will hurt you!”_ She cried.

              “He’s going to hurt Hunk! Let me out!” Lance pleaded. “Red please, I can’t let anyone get hurt for my mistake.”  
              “ _But it wasn’t your mistake! And the Yellow Lion and her paladin are fine, he is overreacting.”_ Red reasoned.

              “Shiro doesn’t think so.” Lance shot back.

              “LANCE!” Shiro shouted from outside and Hunk reached out to Shiro.

              “Maybe we should give him a minute, come on Shiro.” Hunk urged and Shiro turned on Hunk again.

              “RED! OPEN THE DOOR!” Lance shouted and Red whined, but she gave in, opening her doors and dropping her head to let her paladin out. Lance sprinted out the door and down the ramp.

              “Shiro! I’m here!” Lance said, pulling Shiro’s attention off Hunk and he’s glare locked onto Lance.

              “Lance, follow me. We are going to talk about your performance.” He snapped, and Lance nodded, hiding his own fear. “As for the rest of you, get cleaned up.” Shiro added as he led Lance out of the hanger. The Red Lion watched in fear for her paladin as he vanished out the door, leaving the other paladins to glance at each other.

//

 

// 2614.06.25 18.21CT //

              It was several hours later that Lance came limping and panting back into the hanger. Red quickly lowered her ramp and Lance climbed inside before practically collapsing on her cockpit floor.

              “ _I asked you not to go my paladin.”_ Red whispered and Lance let out a sad chuckle.

              “I know girl, but I can’t let Hunk, or any of them, get hurt because of me. Plus, Shiro was right, I fucked up in training, so I need to work on it.” He said, wiping the sweat off his brow.

              “ _May I ask what happened?”_ She asked as Lance started peeling off his paladin armor.

              “He had me train.” Lance said simply, but when he started pulling down his flight suit, Red could see his torso was littered in bruising.

              “ _At what level??”_ She demanded. She knew Lance had been practicing and improving, so Shiro must have bumped the level up much higher to cause that kind of damage.

              “Ah… it wasn’t a level… it was against him.” Lance muttered, pulling on his usual white and blue baseball tee.

              “ _He beat you again?”_ Red growled.

              “No, not like that, just training and… well I got my ass handed to me. He didn’t pull any punches that’s for sure.” He told her when there was a sound from out in the hanger.

              “Lance?” A voice called, and Lance pulled on his jeans before he looked over to see Hunk looking up at the Red Lion. “You in there?” Hunk called.

              “Ah, let him in Red.” Lance said, and she obliged. A few moments later Hunk walked into the cockpit.

              “Hey buddy.” Lance said with a smile.

              “Lance, I’m really sorry about Shiro, training was my fault, I left Yellow’s back totally exposed and I-” Hunk started babbling quickly and Lance shook his head.

              “Hunk, don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” He said, but Hunk didn’t look convinced. “I mean it, you didn’t do anything to warrant Shiro’s reaction.” Lance told him, walking up to Hunk. Hunk in return quickly pulled Lance into a hug.

              “Neither did you Lance.” He said. Red watched as Lance hugged back, looking at ease for the first time in a long while until Hunk squeezed and Lance gasped. Hunk immediately pulled back and Lance’s hand when up to his side where a bruise hid under his shirt.

              “Are you okay?” Hunk asked quickly.

              “Yeah, Shiro just made me run a few more drills, it was a killer.” Lance whined in his usual joking tone, but Red knew it was a farce.

              “You sure?” Hunk asked.

              “Of course, buddy, I’ll be better after bit of beauty sleep! Nothing to worry about.” Lance said with a smile, a large, fake smile that made Red’s non-existent stomach twist.

//


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again thank you for all of your beautiful comments and a special thanks to my sister and partner in crime for helping me work through all my ideas for this story!

// 2614.06.24 23.51CT //

              Lance came limping into the cockpit once again. He was dead quiet, worrying the Red Lion as she looked over her paladin. He was grasping his side again, but his hands made it hard to see what was really wrong.

              “ _My paladin?”_ She asked cautiously.

              “It was just training Red.” Lance said through grit teeth and Red could tell it was a lie. It was more than that.

              “ _Are you alright?”_ She asked, and Lance managed a nod. He sucked in a sharp breath and pulled his hand away from his side. The black fabric of his paladin armor was stained darker by what Red assumed was blood. She was angry, but at this point she had learned to better control it for the sake of her paladin. He only ever seemed to shut down further when she got mad at the Black Paladin for the harm he caused. “ _There is a first aid kit in the lower compartment, as I doubt I can convince you to see Coran.”_ Red told him.

              “Clever girl.” Lance chuckled, and he put his hand back over the wound before going over to collect the first aid kit. Red watched quietly as he pulled off his armor to expose a bloodied side. She would have winced at the site of the torn-up skin if it were possible. “Allura told him about my sword… so he wanted to test my skills.” Lance offered the simple explanation, then went to work cleaning and bandaging up his side while the two of them sat in silence.

//

 

              “That kind of wound would warrant a healing pod.” Keith said, frustrated to see Lance refusing real help with any of the injuries the clone was inflicting.

              “ _I know, as did he.”_ Red replied. “ _But nothing I could say would convince him of that.”_

              “But why, why would he keep hiding his injuries?”

              “ _Then he would have to expose the source of them, or risk the team finding out if he lied. It was something he couldn’t do.”_ She said. “ _But we must continue. It is time for your return.”_ Red said simply, and Keith looked surprised.

              “But that means the clone is gone soon after I got there, and Shiro himself didn’t keep hurting him, how can you have more to show?” He asked quickly.

              “ _Just because the source of the wave is gone, it does not mean the ripple effects are as well.”_

_//_

              From here, Red showed several snippets of what Keith already knew happened next. He, Krolia, and Romelle reached the Castle in time to stop Lotor, and the proceeding battles to follow.

              Keith watched from the Red Lion’s point of view as they pursued Lotor’s ships until finally, they sacrificed the Castle of Lions to close the realty tears. It was odd to see Red watch as the Allura and the Black Lion worked together to bring Shiro back to life and the mix of tears and joy the team experienced. The memory flashes slowed, then returned to normal after the team laid out their plan moving forward and Lance finally returned to Red’s cockpit

//

 

 _//_ 2614.06.27 21.09CT //

              Lance walked up to his seat quietly, still processing all that had happened in the insanity of the day. The cockpit was messier than usual, as his things from the Castle lay hurriedly packed into her cargo and Kaltenecker had left a trail of hay from Lance rushing her inside.

              “ _Are you alright my paladin?”_ Red asked him when she noticed a tear rolling down his cheek.

              “I-It wasn’t Shiro.” He said, and Red was concerned.

              “ _Do not blame yourself for not seeing it my paladin-”_ She started, but Lance broke into a laugh and she stopped. “ _My paladin?”_

“It wasn’t really Shiro, Red! I-I knew Shiro would never do that, I knew it,” Lance laughed, tears still trailing down his face, but Red was relieved as she saw Lance genuinely simile. “I-I’m just… it was all Haggar, it wasn’t really Shiro hurting me.” He said happily, wiping his eyes.

              “ _Does that make it better?”_ Red asked, trying to understand better.

              “Of course! I-It means it was just the witch’ss messed up plans, n-not really Shiro.” He said. Red bit her tongue from sharing the information Black had shared, that the clone was not truly a puppet until the end. It wouldn’t help her paladin to know, and she couldn’t break that news while her paladin looked so relieved.  

              “ _What will you do now?”_ She asked.

              “Well, Allura says we need to go to Olkarion to rebuild the Castle, so I guess it’s road trip time.” He said.

              “ _Road trip…?”_ Red asked, confused.

              “Yeah, like, a long journey with friends.” Lance tried to explain. He relaxed into his seat, still smiling to himself. “It’s over Red.”

              “ _It is.”_ Red said happily, praying that it was true.

//

 

// 2614.06.28 19.34CT //

              After a long first day’s flight, Red looked down on the small camp the paladins had set up on the deserted moon. Pidge and Hunk sat were already busy trying to figure out the communication problems with the rest of the Coalition while Allura and Coran sat together with Romelle, asking as much as they could about the Altean colony. Shiro sat up with Krolia and Keith, the latter nervously checking over Shiro every few minutes to make sure he was alright. It hadn’t been very long since Shiro came out of the pod, so Keith’s concern was not fully unwarranted. Through all of this though, Red frowned and she saw Lance sitting alone, looking around at the others. He seemed to be torn on if he should go join any of the small groups, but to Red’s disappointment, he eventually got up and started walking towards her instead of any of his teammates.

              “I’m pooped after today, I’m… I’m just going to head to bed.” Lance said, and only Keith glanced up.

              “Sure thing Lance.” He said, then went back to his conversation with Shiro and his mother. Lance deflated a little, then sighed as he walked up into the Red Lion’s mouth. He came into the cockpit with a sad expression.

              “ _My paladin?”_ Red asked.

              “Hey Red.” Lance sad as he sat down.

              “ _What are you doing in here?”_ She asked. “ _You should be out there with your team.”_

              “Yeah? Doing what exactly?” He asked, a surprising note of bitterness in his voice. Red wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Sorry, sorry. I just… I guess I figured that when Keith got back, things would go back to normal.” He muttered. “And, well, I guess they did. I’m back to the 7th wheel… 9th now.”

              “ _But… what about the new additions to the team? Could you not get to know them better?”_ She suggested.

              “Look out there, Allura and Coran will want to talk-rightfully-to Romelle for a while, and what I would I even say to Krolia? Hey, I think your son’s pretty cool. Glad he’s back.” Lance added sarcastically.

              “ _Why not talk with Keith then? Are you not happy he has returned?”_ She asked.

              “Of course I am!” Lance blurted out, then blushed. “I-I mean, I’m glad he’s okay...” Red chuckled. “I guess… I really missed him, okay? We got all close and shit when Shiro was gone! Well, at least I thought so, but then he left without telling me anything… so maybe we weren’t actually as close as I thought…” Lance mumbled, his mood quickly spiraling down.

              “ _I don’t believe him leaving meant any malice towards you.”_ Red said.

              “Yeah, well, who knows.” He muttered.

              “ _He would, go talk to him.”_ Red insisted. Lance looked out of the cockpit to Keith. He was still sitting with Shiro and Krolia, looking more at ease with himself than Red remembered ever seeing her old paladin before.

              “He just got Shiro back, I’m not going to bother him.” Lance said, turning away.

              “ _You all got Shiro back.”_ Red reminded him. Lance just shrugged and got up.

              “I’m going to bed. Night Red.”

              _“Good night my paladin.”_ She told him, watching Lance walk away with a heavy heart.

//


	6. Chapter 6

Keith grimaced, remember back to the conversation he and Lance had before he left for the Blades. Lance had said a similar thing to him, that he felt like the 7th wheel to the team. Guilt started to build up though for not remembering that conversation earlier.

              “I didn’t even think that he would feel like that again…” Keith said. “Well, I guess I didn’t really think of him at all at that time.” He admitted guiltily.

              “ _I do not blame you. You had just lost and got your brother back; your focus was locked on Shiro that time.”_ Red told him. It didn’t really make Keith feel much better though, especially after what he had seen and heard about Lance missing him.

              “But… it stayed that way. I-I stayed focused on Shiro.” He said, looking down and Red sighed.

              “ _Yes… unfortunately you and all of the others.”_

 

// 2614.07.01 18.57CT //

              Red again looked down at the paladin’s camp. This time, they had picked a lush ocean planet to rest at. The team had already eaten and where dividing up. Lance had pulled from the others almost as soon as their dinner was over and walked his way over to Red. Instead of going inside though, he went further onto the beach they had touched down on. He toed off his shoes and leaned down to roll up his jeans a bit. With that, he walked out into the surf. Lance smiled softly as the waves lapped at his feet. Red watched, imagining that this must be like the beaches Lance so often described to her. He looked content at the water’s edge until one of the other paladins came over.

              “It’s a nice view.” Shiro said as he walked up besides Lance. He had ditched his shoes over by Lance’s and had now walked into the surf.

              “Shit-Jeez Shiro! Give a guy some warning!” Lance yelped, nearly falling over but Shiro managed to catch him with his good arm to keep Lance from falling into the water.

              “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Shiro said with a chuckle, helping Lance straighten up. He removed his hand and looked back out over the water, missing the flash of fear in Lance’s eyes.

              “Y-Yeah, guess I was really out of it.” Lance mumbled. “I didn’t know you liked the ocean.”

              “I lived by one in Japan when I was growing up.” Shiro told him. “It feels like forever ago, but I always liked the sound of waves.” He said with a smile, then looked to Lance. “We haven’t gotten the chance to talk in a while, how are you doing?” He asked, and Lance swallowed.

              “Ah, fine, I guess.” Lance said, looking down at the water.

              “Yeah? You seem a bit… quieter than I remember.” Shiro said and Lance shrugged.

              “I guess… just a lot has happened.” He said.

              “Hunk and Pidge said that you were upset about Allura and Lotor?” Shiro asked and Lance rolled his eyes.

              “No, it really wasn’t that. I mostly didn’t trust Lotor, so it was hard to see everyone siding with him all the time.” He shrugged and Shiro nodded.

              “That must have been hard, I know I… the other me sided with him.” Shiro told him. “I am sorry for that.”

              “Don’t apologize, that wasn’t you.” Lance said.

              “Well, somewhere buried it was.” Shiro told him. “The clone had my memories, so I still fill responsible.” Shiro added and Lance paled at his words.

              “Do… Do you remember anything from him?” He asked quickly.

              “From what? The clone?” Shiro aske and Lance nodded. “Not fully. I get some flashes and a few memories here and there. Black said that they’re here,” he said with a tap to his head. “But she’s filtering them back to me slowly so that it’s easier to process.”

              “O-Oh.” Lance said and while Shiro didn’t seem to notice, Red could tell her paladin was starting to shake. “I guess that’s smart.”

              “Yeah, she was very understanding that I don’t really want to have another memory gap, so it’s nice to know I’ll at least get these ones back… though she warned me that not all of them are good.” He added, and Lance went ridged. “I don’t know how it will feel to remember fighting Keith… the clone said some awful things to him.” Shiro admitted.

              “Shiro!” A voice called from behind and both Shiro and Lance looked back. Keith was walking over quickly.

              “Whoops, busted.” Shiro said with a chuckle.

              “I thought you went to bed! You scared the crap out of me!” Keith chastised and Shiro smiled.

              “I was going to, but I saw Lance out here with this amazing view and I couldn’t help it.” Shiro said and Keith sighed.

              “You could have let me know.”

              “Sorry, won’t happen again.” Shiro chuckled then looked to Lance. “I’ll talk to you later?” He asked. Lance nodded.

              “Y-Yeah. Sounds good. Sleep well.” Lance replied.

              “You too Lance.” Shiro said, reaching over to pat Lance on the shoulder, then turned and walked up over to Keith. He scooped up his shoes then walked with Keith back to the Black Lion. Lance watched them leave, waiting until they vanish inside Black for him to run back to Red. By the time he got to the cockpit, he was shaking so badly he could hardly keep himself up.

              “ _My paladin, please sit down before you hurt yourself!”_ Red said quickly, and Lance obeyed, sitting in his chair quickly. His breathing was fast and harsh, quickly devolving into desperate gasps.

              “ _Paladin! You must breath!_ ” She said as tears started running down his face and he grasped at his chest.

              “I-I-I ca-can’t!” Lance gasped out, clawing at his chest now.

              “ _Breath with my count.”_ Red said. “ _In 1… 2… 3…”_ She started and watch Lance struggled to try and follow. “ _Out 1… 2… 3… 4… 5…”_ She continued counting like this until Lance was able to follow and keep it up for several breaths in a row. When she finally stopped, Lance slumped back in his seat. He kept breathing for several more moments before looking up.

              “He’s going to remember, Red…” Lance said hopelessly. “Black is going to show him what happened.” He whimpered. “H-He’s going to see me… like that.” He added, looking sick at the thought.

              “ _I… I am sorry my paladin.”_ She said softly, not sure what else to say.

//

 

// 2614.07.04 14.33CT //

              Their next stop was a populated planet to restock supplies. They set the Lions down a way from the city and Lance volunteered to say behind and guard the Lions while the others went shopping in town. They thanked him and headed out. He looked to the Lions with a look Red couldn’t quite read. To her surprise though, he went up to the Black Lion, not herself.

              “Black?” Lance called. The Black Lion did not reply, but that did not seem to deter the Red Paladin. “Black, please, please don’t show Shiro what happened.” Lance said. “I know he wants his memories, b-but please, I don’t want him to see what happened.” Lance pleaded and to his surprise, the Black Lion’s eyes lit up and she looked down on him.

              “ _I cannot do what you ask Red Paladin.”_ She replied.

              “Please! Black you don’t understand! I-It would destroy him! I-It will change how he sees me and he’ll tell Keith- They all already think I’m weak, p-please!” Lance begged.

              “ _I will not betray my paladin’s trust.”_ Black replied, and tears started dripping down Lance’s face. Red growled, ready to step up, but she was beaten to the punch. Instead, the Blue Lion called out.

              “ _Sister, you will tear the paladins apart with that knowledge.”_ Blue spoke out and Lance turned to his old Lion. He looked stunned, then smiled a little.

              “B-Blue.” He said, and she purred to him, then looked to the Black Lion.

              “ _Enough strain has been put on these two paladins, can you not spare them this burden?”_ Blue asked her sister.

              “ _My paladin has assured me he can handle the memories.”_ Black insisted.

              “ _But does he know the extent of what the copy did?”_ Red piped up with a growl. Her words gave Black pause.

              “ _…No.”_ Black admitted. “ _He is unaware the harm the clone caused to the Red Paladin.”_

“Then please Black, keep it that way.” Lance said. “I beg you.” He added. Black looked to her two sisters, then to the paladin before her.

              “ _…Very well. I will refrain from sharing all the clone did.”_ She finally conceded.

//

 

              “If you all agreed sharing what happened was a bad idea, why tell _me_ now?” Keith asked Red.

              “ _Because I hoped that Lance would share himself. I never thought he would share the full truth… but I had hoped that he would open up to one of his teammates at least a little… I never imagined that all of it would push him so far away.”_ Red said sadly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place after the events in S7E3: The Way Forward and then after S7E4: The Feud! Just in case that isn't clear!

// 2614.07.11 10.53CT //

              “Red!” Lance called, as he came soaring through space from the pirate Galran cruiser.

              “ _My paladin!”_ Red called, lunging forward to catch him in her jaws. He quickly climbed up into the cockpit. She could tell something was off, but they had no time. Together, they quickly jumped into the fight, picking off Galran fighters to protect the others as they all got to the Lions.

              “I’m in! Let’s go!” Keith called over the comms once he made it back into Black with Axca in tow. The team quickly retreated, speeding away from the exploding Galran vessel. It was only after the battle field vanish from sight that the paladins relaxed.

              “Is everyone alright?” Keith asked.

              “I’m good,” Pidge replied, followed by confirmations from Hunk and Romelle.

              “I am alright as well, but I need to tend to Coran’s injuries.” Allura told them.

              “Lance?” Keith asked, as he had yet to reply.

              “A-Okay over here.” Lance said and Red could immediately see through the lie as Lance was pressing onto his side.

              “Alright, Pidge plot us a course to the nearest planet, we need to let the Lions recharge as soon as possible.” Keith directed and soon they were on their way. Red turned her attention to her paladin.

              “ _Tell me the truth, how did you get hurt?”_ She asked.

              “I didn’t exactly get hurt.” Lance said, but when he pulled his had away, she again saw blood. “I just… reopened an old wound.” He admitted.

              “ _From the clone’s “training”?”_ She asked, and he nodded a little.

              “Yeah… guess it wasn’t as healed up as I thought.” He mumbled. “I forgot how hard Zethrid can hit.” He whined and Red grimaced.

              “ _What happened aboard that ship?”_ She asked.

              “Apparently Lotor’s girls Zethrid and Ezor, the big one and the pink one, are… pirates now? Anyway, they were going to hurt Pidge.” He explained. “No way I was going to let that happen.”

              “ _What a brave paladin I have.”_ Red said with a small chuckle.

              “Of course.” Lance said with a smile, laughing a bit as well.

//

 

              Keith sighed. “Am I blind?” He wondered aloud.

              “ _Is there something wrong with your eyes?”_ Red asked in a tone of concern.

              “No, I just don’t understand how I didn’t see his injury! I never seem to see his injuries, no one should be able to hide injuries so well!” He snapped, though his anger was definitely at himself, not Lance.

              “ _It is an unfortunate skill my paladin possesses.”_ Red agreed. Keith sighed.

              “I guess hindsight is 20/20… but I feel like such an idiot.” Keith admitted.

              “ _It is why I am giving you this opportunity now.”_ Red told him.

 

// 2614.07.16 01.11CT //

              “Oh! Whoaaa… ugh that was messed up!” Hunk’s voice came over the comms. “Hey guys, I just kinda dozed off for a second and I had this crazy dream!”

              “Garfle Warfle Snick?” Pidge asked.

              “No way!” Hunk gasped.

              “You guys saw that too?” Keith asked.

              “So, wait… does that mean Bob is real?” Lance asked.

              “Did you all just meet Bob?” Coran asked quickly.

              “Coran, you know him?” Allura asked in surprise.

              “I’ve never met him myself, but I’ve heard tales. He’s an all-powerful, all-knowing, interdimensional being who judges the worthiness of great warriors.” Coran explained. “The legends say that if you meet Bob and live to tell the tale, you’re destine for great things indeed.”

              “…The guy was kind of a jerk though, right?” Keith asked, and the others quickly agreed.

              “I’m not that dumb!” Lance piped in.

              “Let’s just keep going. Everyone keep your course.” Keith said to the team, then the comms went quiet. Lance said silent as well for several minutes.

              “ _I am proud of you, my paladin, not many are judged favorably by Bob.”_ Red purred.

              “You know him?” Lance asked.

              “ _Just the tales.”_ She said, then noticed that Lance did not look happy, even with the compliment. “ _Did something happen?”_ She asked.

              “He… he just made me look like a real dumbass.” Lance muttered. “Said I was the dumb one.”

              “ _That’s not true!”_ Red objected.

              “Yeah well… the team seemed to think so too. They’re probably right… I couldn’t get anything right.” He muttered. “God… do they really all think I’m that stupid?”

              “ _No!”_ Red said quickly.

              “I mean it Red!” Lance said. “E-Even Keith… for the final challenge, he said that only one of us would get to leave and we had to vote on who it would be. It… it was really hard.”

              “ _…who did you select?”_ She asked.

              “Keith…” He admitted. “I know Hunk is my best friend, and Pidge is a complete genius, and Allura is a natural leader… but I… well I just think that out of all of us, Keith could do the most good. He could, like, work with the Galras, and he’s so much more… leader-y now since he got back.” Lance explained, a blush forming on his cheeks. “But… then Keith voted for me.”

              “ _Is that not a good thing?”_ Red asked.

              “He… he said it was because he didn’t what to be stuck with me for all eternity.” Lance muttered, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“ _What??”_ Red growled, feeling a shot of anger at her old paladin.

“I didn’t think Keith hated me that much…” He whispered. “I… I thought we were friends.”

//

 

              “ _Explain. Now.”_ Red growled at him and Keith swallowed hard.

              “I didn’t pick him because of that!” Keith said quickly. “I-I picked him because I thought Lance would be the one that could go out there and rally people to stand up against the Galra… He has the best people skills of us and he’s so passionate, I know people would follow his lead.”

              “ _Then why wouldn’t you tell him that?”_ She growled.

              “The stupid Bob guy demanded I give and answer a-and I panicked!” Keith said quickly. “I was embarrassed, s-so I panicked… I fucked that up so badly.” Keith groaned.

              “ _Yes. You did.”_

“What am I even going to say to him…?” Keith sighed.

              “ _I suggest starting with the truth.”_


	8. Chapter 8

// 2614.07.19 07.35CT //

              In the days following the events of Garfle Warfle Snick, Lance’s mood only seemed to spiral further down. His distance from the team was wider than ever, and Red was lost on what to do to try and fix it. She watched helplessly as he sat in his usual place away from the team as they finished up breakfast and prepared to move out.

              “Hey Shiro, do you want to give driving the Lion a try?” Lance up and looked over to Keith and Shiro talking, just barely within earshot of their conversation.

              “No, I can’t take her from you.” Shiro insisted and Keith frowned.

              “Come on, I know you want to, and it’s just for a little while. I could use a break from driving.” Keith said.

              “Are you sure?” Shiro asked skeptically.

              “I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.” Keith smiled, then looked back at the team. “Let’s get going everyone!” He called before he and Shiro went into the Black Lion.

              Lance pulled himself up from his seat and slowly went over to the Red Lion. When they got going back on course for Olkarion, he finally spoke up.

              “Red… what would you think about taking Keith as a paladin again?” He asked.

              “ _You wish to return to Blue?”_ Red asked, feeling a bit hurt.

              “No, no. She and Allura have done so well together, I can’t get in the middle of that.” He told her.

              “ _What about us? Have we not done well together?”_ She pushed, not liking where this was going.

              “Of course Red, but… well… we’re back to six paladins… five lions.” He said finally.

              “ _Let Keith and Shiro work it out then!”_ Red growled.

              “Red…” Lance said softly. “They both deserve to be paladins.”

              “ _As do you!”_ She snapped.

              “Not as much as them. Keith and Shiro are both amazing pilots, leaders, and fighters. Voltron needs the best to stop the Galra.” He explained.

              “ _Stop putting yourself down! You are just as worth as they!”_

“But what happens if I stay?” Lance snapped back. “If Shiro takes the Black Lion back, Keith will leave again! And that puts me as Shiro’s right hand a-and I just don’t know if I can do that! That’s Keith’s place, not mine.” He said. “If Keith says with Black, where does that put Shiro? Awkwardly along for the ride? We need him, he’s an amazing leader and he just got back, we can’t just leave him now!”

              “ _We can work this out as a team! There is no reason for you to step down.”_ Red cried.

              “I… I don’t think I can step down Red.” Lance started, and for a moment, Red was relieved. “I think I need to leave.” He said instead. “I can’t keep weighing the team down, I could go be more helpful somewhere else. Maybe with the resistance or something. I could join the Coalition army and help somewhere that I wouldn’t be such a burden.”

              “ _You are not a burden, my paladin! Please, we need you here! **I need you here!**_ ” She cried, and Lance started tearing up.

              “Red I-I don’t think I can keep doing this.”

//

 

              “N-No way, he was thinking about leaving for that long?” Keith gasped. “I-I thought it was more of a spur of the moment thing.” At least, he had hoped it was that. He didn’t want to think that Lance had put all this thought into leaving the team. Red didn’t know what to say. They were approaching the end of her memories, and they both knew where it ended.

 

// 2614.07.24 15.02CT //

              The days after that were not smooth between Red and her paladin. She continued to try and convince him to stay, while he began researching into the nearby planets and systems. They were on another populated planet, needing to make another restock and refuel. Lance sat up on Red’s paw, looking through a data pad while the team was out in the city.

              “Hey Lance.” A voice said, and Lance jumped a little as he looked down at Shiro standing next to Red’s paw.

              “S-Shiro, I thought everyone went to the market?” Lance asked.

              “I was napping when we landed, I guess Keith let me sleep in a bit more than I meant to.” He said with a chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

              “O-Oh. Um, well…” Lance stammered, not sure what to say.

              “I’m glad though, I wanted to talk to you.” Shiro said, his tone going more serious and Lance stiffened up. “Mind coming down?” He asked.

              “Ah, yeah. No problem.” Lance said nervously, and he slid off the side of Red’s paw. “What’s up?” He asked.

              “I wanted to apologize for how my clone treated you.” Shiro started. “He was a total jerk, and I-” He cut off when he saw Lance’s stricken expression.

              “Black showed you??” Lance gasped.

              “Ah, well, I mean I remembered so I guess-”

              “S-She said she wouldn’t!” Lance cried.

              “What?” Shiro replied, stunned. “Lance, what are you talking about?” He asked, but Lance was looking over at the Black Lion.

              “Y-YOU PROMISED!” Lance cried, tears starting to go down his cheeks.

              “Lance! Lance, did you ask my Lion to hide something?” Shiro asked, surprised and a bit angry at the thought at first. Lance looked back at him, his eyes wide.

              “I-I can’t, y-you can’t, I-I-!” Lance started gasping, his breathing breaking down quickly into hyperventilating and he stumbled back from Shiro. He lost his footing and Shiro reached out when Lance toppled over. It didn’t work as well as Shiro hoped, his balance still off from the lack of his right arm. Instead of stopping Lance’s fall, he ended up falling over on top of the smaller paladin. It took him a moment to recover, and when he looked down at Lance under him, Lance was trembling and looked positively terrified.

              “I am so sorry! Are you alright?” Shiro said, quickly pulling up and he tried to help Lance up when something caught his attention. Lance’s jacket sleeve had slid down a bit, exposing a fading red burn scar in an unmistakable shape. Shiro’s eyes widened in stock. “L-Lance, what is that?” He asked in horror.

              “G-Get off me!” Lance shouted, ripping his arm away from Shiro’s grasp and he shoved Shiro back as hard as he could. Shiro stumbled and fell on his ass, but he was off of Lance. Red was scared, knowing her paladin was panicking and was a possible risk to himself or his teammate.

              “Lance what-?” Shiro started but Red let out a roar and quickly lowered her maw. Lance fled quickly, running up her ramp so fast that he almost tripped. Once he was inside, Red closed up, leaving a very stunned Shiro looking up at her from the ground.

//

 

// 2614.07.24 18.39CT //

              “Lance?” Keith called from outside the Red Lion. “Lance can I come in?”

              “Don’t let him in.” Lance muttered from his place curled up in the pilot’s seat. Red ignored him, knowing her paladin needed help, so she opened up for her old paladin. “Red!” Lance snapped, but he couldn’t do much as Keith came up. He quickly straightened up and whipped his face off before Keith came through the door. “What can I do for you Keith?” Lance said, trying to force a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

              “Ah… Shiro said that you weren’t doing so well.” Keith told him, and Lance grimaced.

              “I should apologize to Shiro, I guess I kind of freaked out on him…” Lance admitted.

              “What happened? Shiro said it was something about the clone’s memories?” Keith asked.

              “It’s nothing really, just a misunderstanding.” Lance said quickly, and Keith frowned.

              “Do you want to talk about it?” He asked.

              “Really Keith, I’m fine. All good here.” Lance tried but Keith didn’t look convinced.

              “It’s not just today… I noticed that you haven’t really been talking to the team.” He said.

              “I guess I’m just tired.” Lance lied. “This road trip is not nearly as fun as it was made out to be.” He tried to joke but it fell flat.

              “I know, I’m just worried about how it might affect the team.” Keith told him.

              “What do you mean?” Lance asked quickly.

              “Well, we all need to be in sync with each other in battle, especially if we need to form Voltron. So, I’m worried when you’re so distance. What if the Galra attack us before we make it to Olkarion?” Keith asked.

              “O-Oh.” Lance mumbled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to affect the team.” He added quickly.

              “It’s alright, I just would appreciate it if you put some more effort into some team bonding, yeah?” Keith suggested.

              “Yeah… sure thing Keith. I’ll get on it.” He said, and Keith smiled.

              “Great.” Keith said, turning back for the door. “And Lance, I’m here if you want to talk.” He offered, and Lance looked surprised for a moment.

              “Ah, yeah, thanks Keith.” He said before Keith gave him another smile and headed out of the Red lion.

              “ _See, the team needs you.”_ Red said but instead of looking happy, Lance’s eyes were watering again.

              “I didn’t think I was hindering the team.” Lance whispered, quickly wiping his eyes before any tears could escape.

              “ _That is not what he meant!”_ She said quickly but Lance shock his head.

              “Maybe not. But… After what happened today… I have to go.” Lance said, going to the door.

              “ _No! My paladin please!”_ Red cried.

              “Red, you saw what happened! H-How am I supposed to work on a team with someone I can’t even be near without freaking out!” Lance cried. “Shiro doesn’t deserve that a-and I can’t handle it!” He said, unable to stop tears. “I-I’m so sorry girl. I love you so much, b-but I need to leave.” Lance told her, then went through the door and started to pack his few belongings into a bag.

//

 

              “N-No! No! Lance you dumbass!” Keith cried, standing up and smashing his hands against Red’s console. Tears where flowing, out of anger, guilt, and sadness. He pulled away from her console, pacing the cockpit as he tried not to take it out on Red’s interior. “I pushed him to leave!”

              “ _You could not have known.”_

              “Yeah but I practically opened the door and kicked him right out! “Especially if we need to form Voltron”?? What kind of asshole says that to someone who’s upset? ME! That’s who!” Keith snarled. “FUCK!” He cried, kicking the door to the cockpit. Red watched him pace and fume for several more minutes until Keith seemed to work over his initial anger. He came back up to the front and sat back down.

              “Show me when he left.” Keith said.

              “ _Are you sure?”_ She asked, unsure if she should really continue while Keith was still so raw.

              “Yes.”

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This hurt to write.

// 2614.07.25 00.52CT //

              Lance walked into the cockpit He was dressed in his casual clothes, the same he had first flown out to space in. He had a bag slung over his shoulder with his belongings and his paladin armor in his arms. He walked up quietly and set it neatly on the pilot’s seat.

              “ _My paladin… please don’t do this.”_ Red begged him.

              “I’m sorry girl.” Lance told her, pulling out his bayard. He looked over it for a moment before he set it down with the armor.

              “ _Where will you go?_ ” She asked.

              “To the city. They have a dock here for trading. I just need to catch a ride on one of the merchant ships.” Lance said. “After that… there are few rebel outposts in the surrounding systems. Fingers crossed that they still are in use.” He added and Red whined.

              “ _Do you at least have the means to protect yourself out there?”_

              “Yeah. I packed rations and first aid stuff. Plus, I have enough GAC to get me some kind of weapon… I think.” Lance said with a little chuckle but red was still worried.

              “ _I am sure the team would understand if you took your armor.”_ She tried but Lance shook his head.

              “I don’t want to give them the wrong idea. Plus… the armor is too identifiable.” He told her. “I’ll be lucky if I’m not recognized without it after the shows Coran had us put on. Can’t have the fans of _Lover Boy Lance_ give me away.” Lance said with a weak chuckle.

              “ _Please reconsider_.” Red pleaded.

              “Sorry girl… it’s time for me to leave, come on.” He told her. Lance went back to the cockpit door and he made his way out while Red whined softly. She let him out, and Lance walked out into the cool night air. He turned back and looked up at her and Red lowered her head down to his level. “I love you Red.” Lance said, placing his forehead against her muzzle.

              “ _I love you too.”_ Red whined and Lance smiled at her. “ _And you will always be my paladin.”_ She promised.

              “Don’t say that, you and Keith will be great together again.” He told her, then placed a gentle kiss to her nose. “I’ll see you around Red.”

              “ _We will see each other again. I will make sure of it.”_ Red insisted then watched as Lance smiled up at her one last time, then turned away. He pulled his hood up, slung his bad back over his shoulder, and then walked away into the darkness towards town.

//

             

              “ _Are you alright?”_ Red asked as Keith was completely silent.

              “Y-yeah… I just… I guess it’s time to tell the team.” Keith said quietly. “I… I need to go.” He told her.

              “ _Are you sure you are ready?”_

              “I don’t have time not to be. The longer I delay, the further away Lance is.” Keith said.

              “ _Then I wish you luck.”_ Red told him, and Keith got up. He headed out of the Lion’s mouth and back to their set up camp. They were still on Yabos, the planet Lance had left them on, while they tried to track down where their missing paladin had gone. He approached the team, were Shiro was the first to spot him.

              “Did Red tell you anything?” He asked quickly, standing up and the others looked over. “You were in there for a long time.”

              “Yes… she did.” Keith said. “She showed me what’s been happening with Lance.”

              “What do you mean?” Hunk asked quickly.  

              “I… I think I need to talk to Shiro about it first.” He said and Shiro’s eyes widened.

              “What? Why?” Pidge argued. “We need all the information we can so we can find him!” She said quickly. Her laptop sat on her lap, no doubt running scans through communication frequencies to pick up on anything related to Lance.

              “I know, I know, and I promise I will tell you soon. I-I just think Shiro needs to know first.” He told them, feeling awful as Hunk and Coran looked particularly crestfallen.

              “Alright… should we go to the Black Lion?” Shiro suggested and Keith nodded.

              “Pidge, to start, can you track down any rebel and Coalition outposts in this system? Lance is heading to one of them, but I’m not sure which.” He said, and Pidge jumped at the information.

              “On it!” She said, and Hunk quickly moved to her side to help. Keith turned to Shiro and nodded towards Black. They both went over, staying silent until they had gone up and into Black’s sleeping quarters where Keith had them both sit down.

              “Shiro… How much has Black shown you of how the clone treated Lance?” Keith started.

              “Not much… I knew he was excessively rude to Lance more than the others…” Shiro admitted. “But… I tried to talk to Lance about it and he didn’t take it very well.” He said, looking down at his hand. “And… Before Lance left… I saw he has a burn on his arms. I… I think I put it there.”

              “It wasn’t you.” Keith reminded him quickly. “But… You are right. The clone did more than I think anyone on the team realized. Lance… Lance was really good at keeping it from us.” He explained and Shiro looked heartbroken.

              “ _If I may… I can show him the memories.”_ Black spoke up, speaking inside both of their minds.

              “I don’t think that’s a good idea Black.” Keith said.

              “But-” Shiro started to protest.

              “I don’t like that Lance hid it from the team… but I don’t think you need the first-hand perspective of what he did, Shiro.” Keith told him and Shiro’s eyes widened again.

              “What exactly did he do?” Shiro asked, though there was a slight tremble in his voice that made Keith not want to say it out loud.

              “The clone… he assaulted Lance. Both physically… and sexually.” Keith explained.

              “W-What?” Shiro choked out and Keith looked up at him. Shiro was shaking and tears quickly spilled over his cheeks as his hand covered his mouth. Keith reached over and put a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “O-Oh God.” Shiro gasped. “T-That’s what the burn was from, wasn’t it? He held him down?” He asked, and Keith gave a small nod.

              “I-I don’t think it happened again after that.” Keith offered, but it was little condolence.

              “It shouldn’t have happened at all.” Shiro said quickly. “H-He’s just a kid! You all are! T-That’s-!” Shiro started, but he couldn’t even finish as he choked on a sob. Keith’s eyes watered, the full force of what happened hitting him as he watched his brother break down over it. Keith reached up and pulled Shiro closer to him. Shiro quickly returned the embrace, clinging to Keith with his remaining arm as he shook violently with heavy sobs. Keith didn’t think he’d ever seen Shiro break down like this and it hurt worse that he didn’t know what to do to help. He couldn’t think of anything to say to make it better, in fact, he doubted that there was anything he could say to help after what happened to Lance. Instead, he rubbed soft circles into Shiro’s back as he kept talking.

              “I-I should have seen it, h-he was so afraid of me. He was p-pulling away from all of us a-and- God I’m going to be sick.” Shiro gapped and Keith quickly grabbed the trash bin and put it in Shiro’s lap before he emptied his stomach. Keith keep rubbing his back until Shiro straightened back up a little.

              “It wasn’t you.” Keith told him again.

              “B-But it was this body.” Shiro said, shaking. “T-This body did that to him.” He said, and Keith’s eyes widened. He hadn’t even thought of that, and now he looked at Shiro while his brother looked positively disgusted with himself.

              “ _Please… do not blame yourself.”_ Black said, and a flare of anger snapped through Keith.

              “Why didn’t you listen to Red? Why did you let this happen in the first place?” He snapped at her.

              “ _You left-”_ She started but Keith wouldn’t accept that excuse.

              “So?? You think that if you had told the team the truth about the clone that I wouldn’t have come right back?” He snapped.

              “ _I…I needed him.”_ Black admitted.

              “For what??” Keith nearly shouted at her, but Shiro reached up and put his hand on Keith’s arm.

              “For me.” He said quietly. “Once I got strong enough on the astral plane… I-I would need somewhere to go.” Shiro said and Keith’s eyes widened.

              “Y-You were planning this?” He asked.

              “ _It was my plan, yes.”_ Black said.

              “Oh.” Keith said, stunned and not quite sure what to think about that.

              “I should have told her no, I-I shouldn’t have let him anywhere near a-any of you.” Shiro whimpered and Keith quickly pulled him close again.

              “You didn’t know.” Keith said, “No one did.”

              After that, the two of them sat together for nearly half an hour, Keith still rubbing circles into Shiro’s back as his brother slowly composed himself again.

              “Do… do you want me to tell the team?” Keith asked him after Shiro’s breathing had evened out and both of their tears had dried up. “I can just tell them that the clone hit him…” he offered but Shiro stoke his head.

              “I think they need to know.” Shiro told him. “If we want to help Lance properly, we can’t keep this hidden any longer.” He added.

              “Alright.” Keith agreed, though he was nervous about how the others were going to take this. Shiro was the first one to stand up.

              “Ready?” Shiro asked, offering Keith a hand up.

              “Are you sure you are?” He asked.

              “I want to find Lance. The sooner we tell them, the sooner we can do that.” Shiro insisted and Keith took his hand.

              “Let’s go then.” Keith said and Shiro helped him up. Together, they headed out of the Black Lion and went back down to the team. They quickly noticed the pair coming up and looked at them expectantly. Shiro took a seat and Keith took a deep breath, then sat down as well.

              “The Red Lion showed me her memories, starting from soon after I left…”


	10. Chapter 10

              “The Red Lion showed me her memories, starting from soon after I left to show me why Lance left.” Keith started. He glanced at Shiro, noticing that Cosmo had joined them and had set his head in Shiro’s lap. Shrio gave him and little nod and Keith swallowed. He looked back to the team as they looked at him with nervous expressions.

              “The clone was abusing Lance. It was both physical… and sexual.” Keith told them and there was a long silence as his words sunk in. Pidge’s eyes widened, and she started shaking. He couldn’t tell if it was from sadness, or anger, but her small frame was tense as she clenched her hands into tight fists. Besides her, Hunk made a choked sound and quickly brought his hands up to his mouth as tears ran down his face. Coran also teared up, though he tried to keep a tough face, it was easy to see the advisor’s heartbreak. Allura looked crestfallen and although Romelle didn’t know Lance as well, she seemed to understand the gravity of what Keith had told them. She reached over and put a comforting hand on the Princess’ shoulder.

              “That’s why the Red Lion attacked Shiro.” Allura said as she realized it.

              “Yes. Red did as much as she could to protect him,” Keith confirmed, “But Lance didn’t want to cause a problem for Voltron… so he didn’t tell anyone.” said and looks of guilt crossed their faces.

              “We’re terrible friends.” Pidge choked out.  “He tried to tell us something was wrong, and I blew him off! I thought he was just jealous of Lotor.” Shiro reached over to her, but Pidge jerked away from his touch, glaring at the ground as her anger towards herself flared.

              “I-I’m supposed to be his best friend.” Hunk cried. “I-I should have pushed more a-after Shiro got all mad at him.”

              “We all failed him.” Keith said softly. “Including me. I screwed up badly in how I treated him after I got back.” The team fell quiet again as each of them thought back on the events of the past several movements.

              “…Were his injuries sever? How did he cover that up?” Coran spoke up in concern. Keith paused, unsure if it would really help the team to know.

              “Well, most of them were bruises he was able to hide with makeup or just under his clothes. Other times he used Red’s first aid kit. The worst was after a “training” incident… and he suffered a significant injury after the Omega Shield mission.” He said, and Hunk looked up.

              “W-What do you mean the Omega Shield mission? No one got hurt!” He said frantically, and Keith looked over to Allura.

              “Did you… not tell them?” He said, startled. He knew Lance wouldn’t have told the team the extent of his injury, but he thought that the Princess would have informed the team. She quickly looked down in shame.

              “I did not. He seemed fine after so… it slipped my mind.” She admitted.

              “What happened??” Hunk asked again, starting to panic. Allura looked back up, swallowing hard as she tried to speak.

              “Lance… He pushed me and Blue out of the way of a large electrical burst when the shield failed.” She explained, and Pidge’s head snapped up.

              “Something like that could have killed him!” Pidge snapped.

              “It… It did.” Allura said. “It stopped his heart, s-so I rushed to the Red Lion and was able to rebind his soul to his body before it was too late.” She explained.

              “HE DIED? AND YOU DIDN’T TELL US?” Hunk cried, standing up and Allura flinched back.

              “I’m sorry, I-I should have said something!” Allura said and Keith quickly got up and went over to Hunk.

              “Fighting with each other won’t help us find Lance.” He said, putting a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. Hunk looked from Allura to Keith and almost instantly, the anger in his eyes melted. Instead, fresh tears sprang up and he let out a choked sob.

              “S-Sorry.” Hunk cried, then pulled Keith into a hug. Keith stiffed, but then did his best to return the hug. It felt incredibly awkward to him do to his own inexperience, but Hunk didn’t seem to mind at all as he clung onto Keith. Shiro gave Keith a small smile, but it was Pidge that sprung up and latch onto the pair. She buried her face into Keith’s side and muffled her sniffles into his shirt. Keith carefully moved and arm over to her shoulder and Pidge just clung onto him tighter. Coran got up next and carefully wrapped his arms around the group of paladins, unable to keep back his wave of tears any longer.

              “Get over here.” Hunk said, looking to Allura and Romelle. Romelle got up, but Allura looked unsure, doubting if she deserved to join them.

              “Come on Allura.” Keith encouraged, and Romelle helped her to her feet before Hunk reached over and yanked Romelle in by her other hand, dragging Allura in with her. They got pulled into the pile, leaving just Shiro outside of the group. The group looked over at him expectantly and Shiro held up his remaining hand.

              “Ah, I’m not sure I’d make that good of a hugger right now.” Shiro said with a nervous chuckle. Pidge shot him a glare, then reached over and grabbed him by the wrist.

              “Get in here.” She demanded and Shiro conceded, allowing himself to be dragged up and into the others.

              They stayed that way until the sounds of crying had slowly died down and the team carefully pulled apart. Pidge pulled off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, sticking close to Shiro as she sat back down. Hunk was still sniffling, but Allura kept a hand on his back with Romelle doing the same for Coran. Keith looked over them, knowing that it would take time for the team to fully heal, but they wouldn’t fully recover without Lance himself.

              “Red showed me that Lance is heading for a nearby rebel outpost. He didn’t tell her which one, but have you found anything in the area Pidge?” He asked. Pidge jumped up and quickly grabbed her laptop again.

              “I got a few hits in this system, we can start with those!” She said quickly.

              “Alright, then let’s call it a night and get moving first thing tomorrow.” Keith told them.

              “But what about Lance? Shouldn’t we leave now?” Allura asked quickly.

              “Yes, but none of us are in good condition to find anyone right now. Try and get some rest, then we can devote all of our energy to finding him.” Keith said, and the team didn’t like it, but Keith was right, they were extraordinarily worn out now.

              “Keith’s right. Let’s recharge and tomorrow we’ll go get our Red Paladin back.” Shiro told them.

              “We’ll get our friend back.” Hunk added, and the group nodded.

              “We better get ready then.” Keith smiled.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, the main character is actually in this chapter.

2614.07.25 01.26CT

              Lance found his way into the city of Vose as the planet’s red sun peaked the horizon. He was tired from the walk from camp, but he knew he didn’t have time to rest. He needed to find a way off this planet before the team realized he was gone. He was lucky enough that the planet’s cycles were out of sync with the team’s sleep schedule, giving him about four hours before the team woke up, but that wasn’t much time to get off-world. Tugging at his hoodie, he pushed into the wakening city until he spotted an open shop. He slipped inside, figuring it was some kind of café from the smells of food come from inside.

              “Excuse me?” Lance said, stepping up to the front.

              “What can I do for you?” A young-looking almost frog-like alien asked, looking up at him.

              “I’m looking for a dock or something, like were ships leave from?” He tried.

              “Oh, you’re a traveler? We have a merchant port down the road, they have some passenger ships and such.” They asked, and Lance gave a little nod. “You need to keep going down the main road, follow signs for ح아د” They said.

              “Ah, I’m not sure my translators caught that.” Lance said, and they giggled. They reached under the counter, pulling up a snippet of paper and jotted down the name for him.

              “Follow this.” They said, handing it over and Lance smiled.

              “Thank you.” He said, talking it and looking over the symbol to try and memorize it.

              “Good luck traveler!” The little alien smiled. Lance smiled again, then gave them a wave before heading back out into the street. He kept going deeper into the city and soon started to see signs matching the piece of paper in his hand. He followed along until it led to the large, bustling station. The front was a busy market of people selling goods the ships had brought in, while further in let to several landing stations for said ships.

              Lance weaved his way into the crowd, keeping his head low as found his way towards the ships. He couldn’t read any of the signs inside, but he still managed to quickly work out where he needed to go to get a ticket for one of these ships. He started towards it, but then paused. If he bought a ticket, it would be pretty easy to track him down, plus he had no idea if they had some kind of customs or passports… did space even have that? He wasn’t sure, he’d always had his Lion or the Castle of Lions. He grimaced and looked around. The little frog-alien had said it was a merchant port, so that meant there had to be cargo ships too, right?

              Lance looked around, then noticed a crew of taller aliens carrying several crates all from the same direction. It seemed like as good of bet as any, so he headed towards were they came from. Ducking into a door, he found himself in a separate part of the station. Instead of looking more like an airport, this part was packed with cargo and people shouting as said cargo was moved around. He worked his way inside, getting a few odd glances until a hand caught his shoulder. He yelped as he was spun around and came face to face with a tall, blue-toned alien with a few too many sharp teeth than Lance was comfortable with being so close to.

               “What are you doing back here?” The alien snapped, and Lance held his hands up.

               “I’m just looking for, ah, work!” He said quickly. “You happen to be hiring?” He tried with nervous smile. The alien looked him down, unimpressed.

              “You’re too scrawny for work here, get out before you get squished.” He snapped, shoving Lance towards the door.

              “Impeer! What are you doing?” A voice from one of the ships called and the blue alien looked over.

              “Kicking out a whelp!” He snapped back. From the ship, a female alien poked her head out and Lance’s eyes widened.

              “Lance?” She said at the same time Lance quickly said “Nyma?” She quickly scanned the area, then waved him over.

              “Come inside.” Nyma said quickly, “Impeer, finish loading up.” She said, and the blue alien grunted. He shot a glare at Lance, but then nodded for him to get a move on. Lance quickly went to the ship, unsure if this was a good idea, but Nyma gave him little choice before she pulled him inside.

              “What are you doing here?? We all thought you were dead!” She demanded “The Coalition, we all thought Voltron was gone!”

              “Ah, well, there was some… tears in space-time we had to deal with after Lotor…” Lance tried to explain, not really sure what to tell her. To his surprise though, Nyma hugged him.

              “I’m so glad you’re okay!” She said, then pulled back. “That means Voltron is here to stop Sendak and all the Galra pirates, right?” She asked excitedly.

              “Yeah, soon, we-they need to get to Olkarion first to rebuild the Castle of Lions, then they can actually take on the Galran again.” He explained, and she looked perplexed.

              “What do you mean “they”? Did something happen?”

              “Um… I… I’m leaving the team. That’s actually why I’m here…” He said and Nyma’s expression hardened.

              “You’re running away?” She snapped, and Lance’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that! The universe needs you!”

              “No! I’m going to join the rebellion-what’s left anyways.” He said quickly. “I… I’m just not helpful to Voltron anymore. So, I’m going somewhere I can be more helpful.”

              “But what about your Lion?” She asked.

              “Allura, the Princess, pilots Blue now.” He said, “And Keith is back to piloting Red.”

              “Oh.” Nyma said, surprised. “I thought you liked being a paladin though?” She asked.

              “I-I do. I… I just can’t right now.” He muttered and Nyma paused. She turned around and went to the front of the ship where she started pulling something up on the ship’s console.

              “Well, I could probably get you to one of the remaining Coalition posts…” She said, looking over her map, but frowned. “There’s not much left in this system…” She muttered.

              “That’s okay, I just need to get off this planet.” He said, and she looked back over to him.

              “Lance… does the team know you’re leaving?” Nyma asked and he looked down at his feet.

              “Ah… not… exactly.” He mumbled. She looked at him for several more moments, but he offered no further explanation. She didn’t push it though and instead looked back to her map.

              “Very well, we’re heading to Iu’lara to pick up another shipment of supplies. It has a much bigger port than this one, if you get there, you can probably find a ship to get you to Crorth. It’s the closest Coaltion planet to this system.” She offered.

              “Are you sure that’s okay?” Lance asked and Nyma laughed.

              “It’s my ship Lance, so yeah, it’s okay. But I don’t take free loaders, so get out there and help Impeer with the last few boxes and we’ll call it even, got it?” She said with a smile and Lance smiled back.

              “Thank you Nyma.”

              “Yeah, yeah, get out there and get moving. If you’re catching a ride, I’m going to put you to work!” She said, taking Lance’s bag from him and she nudged him to the door. Lance chuckled and headed back out, feeling the first spark of hope he’d had in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're officially out of the Red Lion's memories and are caught up to "now". I hope you all still like my story now that we'll be following our lovely paladins in real time.


	12. Chapter 12

              “Hey… Shiro do you think I could talk to you?” Lance asked as they got into the hall. The team had just finished dinner, and on the way out, Lance jogged to catch up to the older paladin.

              “What is it Lance?” Shiro sighed in an irritated tone. Lance grimaced, but he didn’t let it deter him.

              “I wanted to talk to you. It private, please?” He asked and Shiro looked Lance over.

              “Fine. I need to give this to Lotor,” He said, motioning to the data pad in his hand. “Then I’ll come by your room.”

              “Great! Cool, I’ll wait there.” Lance said eagerly. Shiro nodded, then walked down the hall towards the hanger while Lance went down to his room. In the meantime, Lance switched to more comfortable clothes than his paladin gear, opting to switch into his pajama pants and a t-shirt instead. He didn’t have to wait much longer after that before there was a knock at his door.

              “Come on in.” Lance said and Shiro appeared in the door way. He came inside, but neither paladin bothered to sit down and get comfortable.  

              “So, what is it you wanted?” Shiro asked and Lance took a breath, gathering his nerves.

              “I… I think we should reconsider completing Lotor’s ships.” Lance said, bracing for the poor reaction he expected from Shiro.

              “Lance, we already talked about this.” Shiro growled, clearly annoyed the topic was coming up again. “They’re vital to getting through the quintessence portal to help the Galra.”

              “I know! But do you really think it is a good idea to help the Galra?” Lance argued. “I know Lotor is supposed to be on our side, but I’m still getting a really bad feeling about him, Shiro.”

              “Is it because he’s Galra? Seriously Lance? What about all the Blades? What about Keith?” Shiro spat back.

              “That’s not what I mean!” Lance said quickly.

              “Then what do you mean?” Shiro snapped. “Because I’m starting to think you’re just getting jealous of Lotor.”

              “Would people quit saying that! I am not jealous! I just don’t think we’re doing the right thing and I’m not going to help do this anymore.” Lance said.

              “You’re going to help because I said so, Lance.” Shiro growled, and Lance was reminded in the size difference between him and the Black Paladin as Shiro moved in closer to him.

              “No! I’m seriously not going to help with this Shiro!” Lance snapped, standing his ground.

              “That wasn’t a suggestion _cadet.”_ Shiro hissed and his hand lashed out faster than Lance could react. Shiro’s Galran hand connected with Lance’s cheek in a swift back hand and Lance stumbled from the force of it.

              “We’re supposed to be a team, Shiro! This isn’t the Garrison anymore!” Lance spat, holding his cheek as it swelled into an ugly red color.

              “And no wonder you had trouble in the Garrison! You seem to be in dire need of a lesson in respect. I’m the Black Paladin, Lance, not you, a fact you seem to _keep forgetting_.” Shiro growled. His eyes were glinting in anger, and that in combination with Shiro’s tone of voice, drained the anger out of Lance as a growing sense of fear started to build.  

              “I’m not forgetting it, I just, uh,” Lance stumbled over his words, trying to back away from Shiro, but the Black Paladin was very clearly blocking Lance’s path to the door.

              “Just what Lance?” Shiro snapped, looking down on him and a shiver ran up Lance’s spine. Shiro looked ready to strike him again based on what Lance’s next words would be.

              “I can’t help with something I think will hurt us!” Lance shouted, and he put all his energy into shoving Shiro back as hard as he could. He immediately made a sprint for the door, knowing that Shiro would be absolutely pissed at him now. He didn’t even get half way before Shiro’s hand shot out and grabbed Lance by the wrist. Pain when burning up his entire arm and Lance screamed as Shiro pulled him back. He looked down to see Shiro’s arm light up in a blinding purple, singeing Lance’s skin were Shiro held a vice-like grip on his arm.

              “I will not stand for this anymore Lance.” Shiro growled threateningly, yanking Lance closer to him. “You will do what I say or there will be serious consequences.”

              “O-Okay, got it! I’ll shut up!” Lance said quickly, tears springing to his eyes as he desperately tried to pull his wrist out of Shiro’s grip. Instead, Shiro tightened his hold and a predatory look glinted in his eyes.

              “Starting tonight. You don’t get to just run off after disrespecting me like that.” Shiro snapped and he dragged Lance by the arm towards Lance’s bed.

              “Shiro-Shiro please let go!” Lance cried, his arm absolutely screaming in pain. Shiro complied, letting Lance go when he yanked Lance up and basically threw him down on the bed. Lance pulled his wrist close, to distracted by the pain to realize Shiro climb onto the bed after him. He quickly realized it though when Shiro grabbed Lance’s other wrist and yanked it above his head. Lance looked up at him, wide-eyed. “S-Shiro?”

              “This can be lesson number one.” Shiro said with a cruel smile on his face and he forced his kneed between Lance’s legs. Lance gasped as the full intent of what Shiro was going to do hit him.

              “S-Shiro get off me!” He cried, immediately trying to get out from under him, but he screamed when Shiro’s arm turned back on, heating up around Lance’s other wrist. Lance quickly stopped struggling and Shiro deactivated his arm.

              “Don’t fight me Lance.” Shiro hissed, threatening him with tight squeeze over Lance’s burnt arm. “Don’t fight, and this will hurt a lot less.” He said with a sick smile, his eyes traveling down as his spare hand went down to Lance’s pants.

              “P-Please, don’t.” Lance whispered, but Shiro ignored him and gave a harsh tug to the fabric until it gave.

 

2614.07.27 07.41CT

              “Lance?”

              Lance sat up with a start, gasping hard as his eyes adjusted and he realized Nyma was looking down at him.

              “We’re almost to Iu’lara… are… are you alright?” She asked softly, and Lance realized there was a trail of wetness down his face.

              “Y-Yeah, just a bad dream.” He said quickly, wiping away the tears.

              “Well… we’ll be docking soon. I figured I should wake you up.” Nyma said. “We’ll be there in about twenty dobosh.”

              “Great, sounds good. I’ll, uh, I’ll be out in a few ticks.” Lance said.

              “Alright.” Nyma said with a soft smile, then turned and went back to the front of the ship. Lance sighed and rubbed his eyes again, trying to shake off the dreadful feeling of the dream-memory. He got up, stretching out as his long legs protested from the second night of sleeping in the cramped cargo bay. Nyma’s ship wasn’t exactly built for extra passengers, Lance made no complaints. The bigger challenge was the violent return of his nightmares. It seemed without Red there to help, the dreams were back in full force once more. He yawned and rubbed lightly at the burns on his wrist before he grabbed his bag and followed Nyma’s path back to the front of the ship.

              Up in the cockpit Nyma and Impeer sat, guiding the ship to a large purple hued planet. Lance took a seat behind the two of them, watching with curiosity as they approached a massive space station orbiting the planet.

              “This is the Kylina Station, it’s basically a giant market run by the planet.” Nyma explained and Lance was grateful as she offered a distraction from the thoughts in his head. “It’s kept up here, off world because Iu’lara’s atmosphere is incredibly difficult to land in. It’s pretty turbulent, so they can do much more business up here where merchants don’t have to attempt such treacherous landings.”

              “Hardly a challenge if you ask me.” Impeer bragged and Nyma rolled her eyes.

              “You can barely land on Aocury.” She teased.

              “That was one time!” Impeer snapped back and Nyma laughed. Lance watched, smiling a bit as he watched the two of them. Impeer shot Nyma a glare, but she just giggled, then turned back to the task at hand as the Kylina Station came closer. She reached over and flipped on communications.

              “Kylina Station, this is Pilot Nyma Eollen, I am here to drop off supplies and pick up a shipment. Our clearance code is YADD-8733.”

              “Pilot Eollen, this is Kylina Station, you are clear to dock. Please proceed to port 24.” The reply came over and Nyma followed their direction to the correct docking port. She and Impeer fell quiet as they focused, and the ship was properly docked in no time.

              “Alright gentlemen, Impeer, let’s get unpacking!” Nyma said after she hoped up from her seat. Impeer rolled his eyes, but he got up as well and looked to Lance.

              “Come on.” He grunted, and Lance followed him back to the cargo hold.

              Soon the ship was unloaded and Nyma came over as Lance grabbed his things.

              “I found you a ride.” Nyma said and handed him a small data pad. “This has information on a shuttle to Crorth. Once you get there, follow these instructions to get to the Coalition outpost.” She told him, showing him the file containing a map and a few notes. “You have a few varga before the ship leaves, so I loaded this up with a few GAC so you can got get yourself some proper gear. The rebels don’t have much to go around, so you should look around here if you want anything made in the last twenty deca-phoebs.”

              “Nyma, I appreciate the instructions, but I can’t take this. I can get my own gear, I have money.” Lance said quickly, trying to hand the data pad back to her.

              “Really? And home much does a paladin of Voltron get paid exactly?” Nyma teased and Lance sputtered.

              “We don’t-but, I mean, I have a bit saved up!” He said quickly and Nyma laughed.

              “Take it Lance, please. You won’t be much help as a sharp-shooter if you don’t have at least a decent blaster.” She told him, pushing the data pad back into his hands.

              “Nyma…” Lance sighed, feeling guilty.

              “Take it.” She insisted, and he caved, finally tucking the data pad into his bag. “Good, now I have another shipment to go get and you have shopping to do!” She said, motioning to the hangar door that would lead to the station’s market section.

              “Thank you Nyma, I really can’t thank you enough.” Lance told her.

              “Thank me by kicking some ass.” Nyma said with a smile then leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Say safe out there, Lance.”

              “You too, Nyma.” He said, blushing a little as Nyma pulled away. He smiled at her, then turned and headed out of the hanger and into the loud, bright bustle of the space mall.  


	13. Chapter 13

2614.07.28 11.58CT

                            It was a tense day and a half wait before Pidge’s code got a hit on Lance. Until then, the team had poured all of their time into tracking down their missing paladin. Allura and Romelle had been travelling to nearby cities and talking with locals. Shiro and Keith had taken Black on several search flights, looking for any sign of Lance in the areas surrounding their camp site. Hunk and Pidge had gathered nearly every possible computing source to get as many codes processing data as possible. They monitored communications, transactions, and video feeds as far as they could get the Green Lion’s signal to reach. Coran occasionally lent a hand to the pair, but he spent most of his time ensuring that the team was as well-cared for as possible. It was during one of his enforced meal times that Pidge’s laptop pinged with a notification sound. The Green Paladin shot up, completely forgetting her pile of green goo as she dashed over to the screen, Hunk hot on her heels.

              “Guys! Guys! I got a hit on Lance!” Pidge said excitedly and everyone else dropped their plates to head over. Pidge clicked the flagged data piece and a video feed opened. The image was cluttered with people going through a busy marketplace. Signs flashed in alien languages and among the mess of colors, Hunk was the first to spot him.

              “There!” Hunk said quickly, pointing to a figure in the crowd. His hood was up, shadowing his face slightly, but the jacket was undeniably Lance’s.

              “Where is this?” Keith asked, and Pidge quickly pulled up another data pad.

              “Kylina Station, orbiting Iu’lara. It looks like another kind of space mall I think.” She told them as she pulled up as many video feeds from the station that she could find. “It’s outside our system, but I think we could get there in… two varga with the lions at top speed.”

              “Why would he be at a space mall?” Shiro spoke up.

              “It may have a market attached to it, but Kylina is also a large docking station. Similar to what you humans call an… airport?” Coran explained, glancing to Hunk to see if he had gotten the word right, but Hunk paled at his words.

              “Then we need to get going now, we don’t know how much longer he’ll be there!” Hunk blurted out, standing up quickly.

              “Alright, Romelle, Allura, and Shiro, get everything back in the Lions. Coran, help Hunk and I get all of this into the Green Lion. Pidge, I need you to keep watch on those video feeds. We need to know if Lance gets on any other ship and where that ship is going.” Keith said. The team was fast to their feet and the following doboshes were filled with frantic packing. As soon as everything was back in the Lions, Keith faltered as he instinctively headed to Black.

              “Shiro you’re going to have to drive Black! I’m getting Red.” He called over to his brother. Shiro looked a bit nervous, but he didn’t disagree and the two quickly got into the Lions. Romelle got in with Allura, while Coran went with Pidge in Green to assist with keeping track of Lance. Keith got up to Red’s cockpit, sensing Red’s urgency as he sat down in the pilot’s seat.

              “Everyone ready?” He called over the comms and was met with a chorus of agreements. “Let’s go!” With that, the Lions roared to life and took to the sky, taking off towards the Kylina Station.

 

2614.07.28 13.43CT

              “Okay, we’re about ten doboshes out. Pidge, do you still have a visual on Lance?” Keith asked from his place in Red.

              “Yes, but his still in the market area, but he’s on the move.” Pidge reported.

              “Alright, I want you and Coran to stay in Green. We need you to be our eyes and ears for this. Hunk, Allura, Shiro, Romelle, and I will go into the station to find him. I want everyone to change out of your armor, but keep your bayards handy. We don’t need to make a scene and lose him, but we’re going into an unknown situation.”

              “The station may not welcome us with open arms, we don’t exactly have a pod to fly over and the Lions can be…intimidating.” Allura reminded them and Keith grimaced.

              “We could bring in only Green with the cloaking on?” Hunk offered.

              “I’m not sure bringing in an invisible ship is the best way to get on the station.” Keith said. “But I do want Green close. Coran and Pidge can circle the station while we’re inside. Let’s all switch over to Black and take her-”

              “ _I refuse to be left behind!”_ Red suddenly roared in Keith’s mind, making him flinch. “ _This is MY paladin! I will not lose him again!”_

              “Keith?” Shiro spoke up.

              “Sorry, scratch that. Hunk, Romelle and Shiro come join me in Red. Allura, say out here with the other lions. Alert us if anything goes wrong.” Keith said, and the others agreed.

              Soon, Romelle, Shiro, and Hunk were crowded into Red’s smaller cockpit with Green flying invisibly besides them. As the station came into view, Keith’s comms pinged.

              “Unidentified craft, this is Kylina Station, please identify yourself.”

              “Kylina Station, we are the Paladins of Voltron. We are bringing in the Red Lion and request to dock.” Keith told them and there was a pause on the other side of the line.

              “Ah… sorry, did you just say Voltron?”

              “Yes, we need to land. We’re here just to pick up supplies, but it is urgent we dock.” Keith told them quickly.

              “Ah, Keith?” Pidge spoke up on the comms.

              “We cannot permit that, you are not authorized to land here, you need a-” The station replied.

              “We need to land!” Keith snapped, getting impatient.

              “KEITH! Keith, we lost Lance!” Pidge cried, yanking Keith’s attention from the uncooperative station controller. “He went through one of the doors towards the ship docks and we lost sight of him!”

              “Shit!” Keith snapped, and he quickly hailed the station again. “Kylina Station, the situation is urgent! We are landing with or without your permission, but unless you would like a nice new hole in your station, I suggest you give us a place to dock!” He snapped.

              “Wait! Wait-Uh, please, uh-Dock 7! Use dock 7!” The station controller replied quickly. Red needed no encouragement and she rushed to the location.

              “Hunk and Romelle, stick together, I’ll go with Shiro and we’ll scan through the dock locations. Pidge and Coran, let us know the moment you see anything and Allura, I want you ready in Blue to stop outbound ships if we see him leave!” Keith directed.

              “Got it! Ready in Blue.” Allura replied as Pidge and Coran confirmed as well.

              “Alright, Hunk and Romelle, head for the entrance to the docking station. That’s where we last saw him. Should be right next to dock 1.” Pidge instructed. “He had a five dobosh head start though, so Keith, Shiro, start searching the latter docking ports, we’re not sure how far he got.”

              “Okay, come on Romelle, stick close to me.” Hunk said and the Altean gave a nod before the pair went towards the entry way. Keith was about to head the opposite way when Shiro caught him by the shoulder.

              “Keith, I think I should stay back.” Shiro admitted.

              “What? No, we need as many eyes out there as possible!” Keith countered quickly.

              “And if I’m the one to find him? Keith… I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Shiro said solemnly. “Lance… last time I saw Lance, he was afraid of me. I don’t want him running away because he sees me and bolts.” Keith wanted to protest, and Shiro himself looked heartbroken at the idea, but they both knew he was right, there was a risk to bringing Shiro along.

              “Fine. Stay with Red and keep an eye out for us here, okay?” Keith said and Shiro nodded.

              “Got it, now get out there.” He said, and Keith headed out, away from dock 7 and down the wide rows packed with aliens.

              “Shiro’s sticking with Red, I’m going for the back docks.” Keith updated the team.

              “Alright, we’re not seeing him here. Pidge, any luck?” Hunk asked.

              “No, I don’t think-” Pidge started, but was cut off by Coran.

              “There! Dock 19! He’s in line to board one of the passenger ships!” He shouted, and Keith took off running.

              Keith blew past other aliens, hardly even hearing their shouts of protest as he counted the dock stations. “17…18…19!” He turned into the marked area, scanning the crowd for any sign of Lance. He was panting for breath, but he didn’t hesitate to call out the moment he spotted the grey hood pulled over a puff of brunet hair in line to board the ship.

              “LANCE!”


	14. Chapter 14

2614.07.28 13.56CT

              Lance fiddled with his sleeves, his foot tapping impatiently as he waited to board. His bag sat heavier on his shoulder, a new rifle placed inside it and he now had a knife strapped to his leg. It wasn’t much, but he already felt more at ease with the additions. He sighed and looked up at the line, urging it to go faster when suddenly a familiar presence pushed into his mind.

              “ _My paladin!”_ Red cried in his head and Lance froze. If Red was here, that meant the others we close.

              “Red, what did you-?” He gasped only to be cut off as a shout rang out across the hanger.

              “LANCE!”

              Lance’s head snapped up and his eyes widened, shocked to see Keith already standing there. He was heaving and panting with tears in his eyes as he looked back at Lance.

              “Keith?” Lance whispered. Keith started to push through the crowd and Lance shrank in on himself as the crowd was staring at them. He quickly got out of line and marched over to Keith. Lance grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from the hanger, and out into the hallway.

              “Keith what the hell?” Lance hissed, but Keith ignored him and, to Lance’s surprise, Keith pulled him into a tight hug. “Keith?”

              “We are so sorry! We were so blind-shit I was such an asshole, Lance I am so sorry!” Keith cried against Lance’s shoulder, confusing him even more.

              “Keith, Keith I left so you and Shiro can be paladins again, you don’t need to be sorry.” Lance said, trying to pull back from Keith’s grip. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but he didn’t understand why Keith was so upset. He didn’t think Keith would be that upset over him.

              “Red showed me what you went through, and we messed up Lance, we’re so-”

              “She _what?”_ Lance snapped, and Keith finally pulled back.

              “I… I asked Red why you left… so she showed me what she saw.” Keith repeated.

              “What did she show you?” Lance demanded.

              “Everything… I think…” Keith said nervously, and Lance grit his teeth.

              “Where is she?” Lance hissed through clenched teeth.

              “Lance, she just wanted to help, she was so upset-”

              “Well it wasn’t her problems to share!” Lance snapped, his voice growing louder as his thoughts were spinning.

              “ _My paladin, I am sorry, I did it to help.”_ Red spoke in his mind, but it did little to sooth his anger.

              “Yeah, what the _fuck_ Red?” Lance growled, and Keith flinched.

              “Lance, please, come back with us.” Keith pleased. “We can talk about this together.”

              “No, Keith I left for a reason!” Lance snapped. “If she showed you _everything_ then you should just leave me alone!” Lance said, and he pushed away from Keith, ready to go back into the hanger when footsteps came running down the hallway.

              “LANCE!” Hunk and Romelle cried together as they saw him. Lance froze, his heart dropping as Hunk ran up to him and enveloped him in a hug, already sobbing.

              “I am so sorry! I’m the universe’s worst best friend!” Hunk cried. “Please don’t leave!”

              “I…Hunk, I…” Lance stuttered, unable to bring himself to pull away from the Yellow Paladin.

              “Please, just come back and talk with us?” Keith asked, and Hunk looked at Lance with pleading eyes.

              “…Fine.” Lance muttered, caving in though his mind screamed at him to run.

              “Thank you.” Keith said softly. “We got to him in time. We’re heading back to the Red Lion now.” Keith reported to the team and Lance grimaced. It time? It wasn’t like he was dying, it didn’t seem that dire to him.

              Keith lead the group back towards dock 7. Hunk stayed glued to Lance’s side, but it surprised Lance when Romelle came up and took his other hand.

              “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I am grateful we found you before you left, Lance.” Romelle said sheepishly.

              “Ah… thanks Romelle.” Lance told her, still surprised, but she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

              When they got to dock 7, Lance was struck with torn feelings. Red stood there, purring loudly in his mind, but he couldn’t stop his feelings of anger and betrayal. His emotions only wrenched further as he saw Shiro standing at Red’s feet, looking nervous but hopeful as he saw the team return with Lance in tow.

              “Pidge, can you find us a place close by to land once we meet back up with Allura?” Keith asked into his comm. Lance couldn’t hear her reply, but he didn’t much care as he watched Shiro give him a small wave. His heart wrenched, twisted with guilt as he saw how hesitant and torn up Shiro looked. He caused that, it was why he wanted to hide it in the first place. He didn’t want to put Shiro though it, he had already been through enough, Lance didn’t need to add any more to that.

              “Hi Lance.” Shiro said, smiling at him as the group reached the Red Lion. “Could… would it be okay if I gave you a hug?” He asked.

              “Yeah, of course Shiro.” Lance told him, and Hunk and Romelle let go so he could go up to Shiro. Shiro wrapped an arm around him and Lance stiffened, not with fear, but with the flood of emotions that hit him. Shiro moved to pull away, but Lance launched onto him before he could. He buried his face into Shiro’s shoulder, shaking as tears started spilling.

              “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to know.” Lance cried into the fabric of Shiro’s shirt.

              “It’s okay Lance, I understand.” Shiro assured him, holding onto Lance as best he could as the smaller paladin broke down.  The team gave them a few minutes, waiting until Lance slowly let go and stepped back.

              “Pidge found a place for us to go talk… is that okay?” Keith asked, and Lance gave a small nod.

              “Yeah, sure.” He agreed and Red opened her mouth. The team got in, but Lance stayed in the back of the group when they got into the cockpit.

              “Do you want to drive?” Keith asked, but Lance shook his head.

              “No.”

              “ _My paladin…”_ Red whined, but Lance ignored her. Keith frowned a bit, but he didn’t push it and took the pilot’s seat. They took off from the station and Green joined Red’s side as they flew back out to the other lions.

              “Alright, Hunk and Shiro need to go back to Yellow and Black, where would you like to go Lance?” Keith asked.

              “I want to go with Hunk.” Lance said, ignoring Red’s sounds of sadness at his choice.

              “Okay.” Keith agreed. “Everyone gear back up to go back to your Lions.” Hunk, Shiro, Romelle, and Lance went into Red’s cargo bay. Hunk and Shiro got their armor back on and Romelle had a standard suit to use. Lance on the other hand, frowned as Shiro offered him back his old armor.

              “It doesn’t have to mean anything right now, but if you want to go over to Yellow, you need a suit.” Shiro assured him and Lance sighed.

              “Alright…” He conceded and took back the armor. It already felt like a bad idea. It had taken him so long to decide to take the armor off… to put it back on so fast seemed wrong. He didn’t deserve it anymore. He wasn’t supposed to be a paladin anymore.

              “Romelle, you alright to join me in the Black Lion?” Shiro offered and she nodded. “Alright, let’s go out there.” He said, and the group went back to Red’s mouth and were soon flying out through open space back to the Lions.

              Hunk lead Lance up into Yellow’s cockpit and Lance stood behind him as Hunk sat down. Pidge’s face came up on the communication screen and she smiled as she saw Lance.

              “Iu’lara has a moon we can land on for the night. I’ve sent the coordinates to everyone’s Lion.” She told them.

              “Thanks Pidge, let’s get going.” Keith told them, and the Lions took off towards the small lush moon. Lance kept quiet, unsure what would happen when they landed. The team seemed upset he left, but he was afraid it was just guilt for… whatever Red told them. And that was a whole other problem-Red. He couldn’t believe his Lion would just… betray him like that. She was his sole confidant through all of this and for her to just rat him out to _Keith_ like that, he didn’t understand.

Lance looked up as Yellow landed. He swallowed hard, nervous for what was about to come. For now, he needed to find out exactly how much they knew… and then he wasn’t sure what to do. It didn’t seem like they were going to let him out of this easily. With that in mind, and a great deal of fear building up in his chest, he followed Hunk out of Yellow’s maw, out to face the rest of his team.

             


	15. Chapter 15

2614.07.28 14.43CT

              “I don’t know what you all want me to say.” Lance muttered when the team sat down together.

              “Why didn’t you tell us Lance?” Allura asked. “We could have helped.” She insisted.

              “Would you have?” Lance snapped, glaring up at her. “I tried to tell you and I only ever got shot down!” Pidge and Hunk both looked down at his words.

              “If you had showed us, we would have done something!” Allura tried to defend it just pissed Lance off more.

              “Yeah, sure! Let me just strip my shirt off in the middle of training to show all the bruises, that sounds perfect!” He said sarcastically. “You think I didn’t think of that! I’m not as stupid as you all think!”

              “I didn’t mean-”

              “You all made your thoughts perfectly clear on how dumb you think I am.” Lance cut her off. “You wouldn’t have believed jack-shit from me if it was my word versus his!” He snapped and Allura opened her mouth, but she paused and closed it again before looking down at the ground.

              “I-I’m sorry Lance… we should… we should have listened better.” She told him.

              “Yeah, well, too late now, isn’t it?” Lance hissed.

              “Lance, please… It’s not too late for us to help.” Keith spoke up. “Come back with us and we can work on it together.”

              “No, the clone was right about something; I’m not meant to be a paladin.” Lance said, standing up while the team looked horrified.

              “What?? No! That’s not true at all!” Hunk cried.

              “Lance, you’re meant to pilot Red, we need you!” Pidge argued.

              “No, you really don’t. Keith’s back, Shiro’s himself again, so we have six paladins, five Lions all over again. I’m the weakest one, so me stepping is obviously the best option!” Lance snapped.

              “But you don’t have to leave, you can still stay with us!” Allura said.

              “And do what? You all are the defenders of the _universe_ , you need the best and you all need to be a team. I’m dead weight that you all are too nice to cut out. Without me, Voltron will be better. I just left before all of you realized the same.” Lance said to them.

              “No, Lance, I can go back to the Blades, you’re the Red Paladin now, I can’t take that from you.” Keith told him.

              “Keith, the team needs you here. Besides, I think Red already made her choice in who she trusts more.” He said with a partial amount of venom in his words towards Red.

              “I’ll give back Blue then, she picked you first!” Allura spoke up quickly and Lance sighed.

              “Allura, you have excelled as a pilot faster than any of us. You are meant to be out there with Blue. I left so I can go be useful somewhere else. I don’t want to be the dead weight anymore, I can be _helpful_ somewhere else.” He insisted.

“Please, at least give us a chance? Finish our trip to Olkarion, stay for a week, then… then if you still want to leave, we will support your choice.” Shiro offered. Lance looked down, unsure what to say. The team fell quiet, waiting on an answer, but Lance didn’t have one to give.             

              “…Lance, before you decide, could I please assess your wounds so I can at least be sure you are healthy if we must say goodbye again?” Coran spoke up.

              “…alright.” Lance agreed quietly.

              “We have a working pod in the Black Lion, would you join me?” Coran asked, getting up and offering a hand to Lance. Lance nodded, reaching up and Coran helped him to his feet. He didn’t look at the other paladins as he followed after Coran to Black.

2614.07.28 14.47CT

              Coran brought Lance into the room they had made into an impromptu medical bay. It contained the pod they had helped Shiro recover in, and the few medical supplies Coran was able to pack from the Castle.

              “Why don’t you take a seat Number 3?” Coran asked, and Lance sat down on a chair beside the pod while Coran pulled over another chair.

              “Keith said you had been injured, but he did not go into great detail. Could you give me a run down?” Coran asked him.

              “Couldn’t you just… stick me in the pod?” Lance asked nervously. He didn’t want to have to explain it, he wasn’t even sure where he should start.

              “Yes, but it would only be able to help with current ailments. I understand that these injuries are older, so there will be less a pod can do.” He explained.

              “I…” Lance muttered, but his voice died out as he looked down at his hands. Coran’s expression softened, and he slowly reached over and put a hand over Lance’s own.

              “Lance, I understand that it is hard to say a loud, and that you may not trust me right now. I am sorry I ever made you feel like you could not come to me. I had hoped to be there for you, but I have clearly failed in my duties, not as an advisor, but as a friend and a mentor.” Coran told him, taking hold on Lance’s hand. Lance had started to tremble, trying to keep the tears building up in his eyes from falling. “I failed then, so please, let me help now.”

              “C-Coran you didn’t- you never- please, don’t blame yourself.” Lance said, looking up at Coran as the first tears slipped down his cheeks. “T-This is all my fault, I wasn’t strong enough to stop it, and-”

              Lance got cut off by Coran pulling the boy into a fierce hug. He didn’t fight it, instead, he clung onto the front of Coran’s shirt and stayed with his face pressed against the Altean’s shoulder.

              “My boy, you are not the one to blame here.” Coran said, “What happened was no fault of yours, so please, do not let yourself think that way.”

              Lance didn’t reply, and Coran held him close until Lance was the one to pull away.

              “Would it be easier for you to show me your remaining injuries?” Coran offered once Lance had sat back in his own seat.

              “…yeah, that sounds easier.” Lance agreed lightly, and he took a deep breath. He started by shedding his jacket, then rolled up his sleeves. “Um… they’re mostly healed, I think, but… these are the burns Shiro saw…” he said as he exposed two burn marks that wrapped around his wrists. The marks had scabbed over at this point and in places had healed to a dull red scar. Coran reached over and gently took Lance’s arm. He turned his wrists slowly, checking over each of them for any infection or deeper burn marks.

              “It looks like these are healing well. The pod will likely not recognize these, but I have a few things that may speed up the healing process and reduce the scarring.” Coran told him, and Lance gave a small smile.

              “I think that will be the answer for most of these…” He said, and Coran gave a solemn nod.

              “Keith mentioned a training accident… and the incident on the Omega Shield.” He said, and Lance’s smile dropped.

              “Yeah… those.” Lance muttered, then looked down. He would need to remove his shirt to show Coran those, but the idea terrified him. He hated the mess of scars and marks that his torso had turned into, to expose that to someone else made his stomach turn. With shaky hands, Lance reached down and then slowly peeled off his shirt. Coran made not sound or show of disgust, but Lance knew he had to be thinking it. How could he not?

              Littered across Lance’s chest was a series of scars and the final remnants of bruising. Wrapped around his abdomen was an older bandage, as it was the last one from Red’s first aid supplies. Then there were the scars that wrapped around to his back. Hand print marks were burned into the sides of his hips and a large, lightning like scar ran down his chest, over his shoulder, and to his back. Coran breathed in, looking over the damage and decided on where to start.

              “Would it be alright if I removed your bandage?” he asked.

              “I can do it.” Lance told him before he carefully peeled back the layers of gauze himself. Coran grimaced as a large stab wound was revealed underneath. It didn’t look too deep, but it also looked like it had started to become infected as it struggled to heal.

              “When did this happen?” Coran asked.

              “It… It was the training accident… Shiro-The clone got me when he was trying to show me how to use my sword better…” Lance said. “So… about a decaphobe ago.”

              “A decaphobe? This should have healed already then.” Coran said, immediately more concerned.

              “It hasn’t really had the chance to. As luck would have it, every time it’s close to healing properly, I get hit there and it splits back open.” Lance said with a hollow chuckle.

              “Well, the pod can definitely help with this. Especially, to clear out any infection.” Coran noted. “May I see your back?” He asked, and Lance complied, turning around for him. There was less bruising there, but the lightning scar continued down to below his shoulder blades. The biggest stand out though was another hand print burn in the center of his back. Coran carefully reached up and touched it, making Lance immediately flinch away.

              “Lance…” Coran said softly, and Lance couldn’t look at him.

              “It’s fine. They’re nearly all healed.” He said quickly.

              “These types of burns… they do not heal easily on their own… I cannot imagine how you hid them with the amount of pain they must have caused.”

              “Well… armor helps. And just… not really being around the team. Not that hard to avoid them.” Lance mumbled, and Coran looked over to the other prominent scar.

              “And this one?” The Altean asked him. The scar fanned out like a lightning bolt, but even more noticeable was that it seemed to follow the path of the Paladin armor.

              “Um… Red said it was from the electricity surge on the Omega Shield.” Lance explained.

              “Yes, that would make sense.” Coran agreed, “This one seems well healed.”

              “Allura did that, when she, you know… brought me back.”

              “Ah. Yes.” Coran said in a much sadder tone. “Well, I believe a pod would do you good so that your side may finally heal. I will get the things I have together to see if we can help with any of the burns and scars, that sound alright?”

              “Sure.” Lance said quietly and looked over at the pod.

              “This one is a slightly different model, so I’ll just open it up and you can lay down.” Coran explained, getting up and going over to the pod’s controls. Lance pulled his shirt back on, then waited for Coran’s go ahead to get into the pod. It felt nicer than the others, more natural to lay down than the usual upright pods.

              “Okay, you should only need a few varga. I will be here when you get out, would it be alright if I inform the others? I believe they might want to be here as well.” Coran asked.

              “I… I’d prefer it if you didn’t let them in.” Lance admitted, and Coran nodded.

              “Very well, then I will see you shortly, my boy.” Coran said with a smile and had Lance lay down.

              “Thank you, Coran.” Lance told him, then Coran activated the pod and Lance’s vision went to black.


	16. Chapter 16

2614.07.28 15.22CT

              “I’m going to go check on them.” Keith said after nearly half an hour had passed.

              “Keith, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Shiro asked.

              “I can’t just keep sitting here.” Keith said as he got up and headed to the Black Lion. Shiro watched him go, but he didn’t protest. Keith went inside Black and he went to their small med bay. He listened at the door for a moment, but didn’t hear anything. Worried, he knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal Coran.

              “Where’s Lance?” he asked quickly.

              “No need to worry, he’s in a pod right now.” Coran said and stepped aside to let Keith in. Keith stepped inside, and his stomach twisted as he saw Lance in the same pod he had nearly watched Shiro die in but a few days ago.

              “Why is he in a pod?” Keith asked, and Coran returned to his seat besides the pod.

              “One of his injuries wasn’t healing properly and was becoming infected.” Coran told him, but he stayed purposefully vague.

              “And the others?” Keith asked.

              “It’s not my place to say. I am sorry Number 4, but I believe Lance’s privacy has been infringed upon enough lately.” Coran said softly.

              “It’s alright… I understand.” Keith agreed, a guilty feeling gnawing at his gut. “Do… Do you think he’ll stay?”

              “I am not sure right now. There is a lot we have to make up for before Lance feels like he belongs with the team again.” Coran admitted.

              “Yeah…” Keith nodded in agreement. “How long will he be in here?”

              “4 varga, but I promised him I would not have you all here when he gets out.” Coran said.

              “Oh. Um, well, please keep us updated.” Keith said, looking back down at Lance.

              “Of course. I will alert you as soon as I can.” Coran told him. Keith paused, then turned to leave. He didn’t really want to go, but he didn’t want to make Lance even more upset with him.

              “Number 4… we do have some time before he wakes up. Stay with me for a while?” Coran spoke up.

              “Oh, yeah, sure Coran.” Keith said, turning back to the Altean. Coran motioned to the seat beside him. Keith went over and sat down then looked over to Coran. The advisor looked back to the pod and, for the first time, Keith noticed just how deep the lines of his face where beginning to look.

              “I had a son on Altea.” Coran said, and Keith looked surprised, not surprised that Coran was a father, but that he hadn’t heard anything about it before. “His name was Garrett… Lance reminds me of him quite a bit. Both outgoing young men destine to do great things.” Coran continued softly.

              “I didn’t know you had a son…” Keith said, unsure what exactly to say.

              “I only ever told Lance… I would often find him in the observatory watching the stars. He would tell me of Earth, and he would listen to my tales of Altea. But… close to the end, he showed up less and less. Instead of that longing and wonder at the stars… he trained all the time. I knew he didn’t think highly of his skills, but I was blind to the damage we were doing by encouraging that type of behavior, even if it was inadvertent.” Coran told him. “We became so wrapped up in shows, the Coalition, then Lotor that we couldn’t see the pain one of our own was in. I couldn’t see it, and that is my purpose on the ship. I keep all in working order, I am responsible for the health and maintenance of the paladins. And… honestly, I don’t believe I deserve another chance.” He said, finally turning to look Keith in the eye. “But I cannot lose another son. Not again. I can only do so much for Lance now, so I have to ask that you do all that you can. I know Lance does not understand the Red Lion’s choice to show you what she did, but I believe she made the right choice.”

              “But… why? It only made Lance hate both me _and_ Red.” Keith argued.

              “She broke his trust, yes, but we are not meant to carry the weight of the world alone, Alteans or humans. Lance was carrying such a heavy burden alone… and while Red may be late in reaching out, we cannot let him carry that alone any longer.” Coran told him. “And, I know you and Red are close, but I believe that you are the one that Lance will listen to most. Number 2 and 5… their guilt will weigh on them, and it will obscure their ability to help. The Princess is just not as… delicate with emotions as she believes. Shiro and Lance will need to work together to heal, but to get that chance, he will need you first. I can only do so much, but Lance needs a friend right now, and despite the rivalry you two had, I believe that you two are the ones meant to lead Voltron.”

              “But I messed up, I was the one that made him leave! I… I tried to talk to him and it all backfired…” Keith disagreed, and Coran gave him a small smile.

              “You have a few more vargas to think about it, but why don’t you start with why you want him to stay?” Coran offered.

              “I’ll… I’ll work on it.” Keith agreed.

 

2614.07.28 19.11CT

              When Lance woke up, he decided he liked this pod much better than the Castle pods. Instead of falling out, it felt like waking up from a dreamless sleep. Coran had already opened the pod, so Lance was able to sit up and look around as the grogginess faded.  

              “Welcome back, my boy.” Coran said with a smile. To Lance’s relief, he had kept his promise and was the only one in the room. “How do you feel?” He asked.

              “Good, I haven’t slept like that in a while.” Lance told him. Coran looked a bit worried at that, but he still looked happy with the result.

              “Fantastic, may I check your abdomen to ensure that all is healed up?” Coran asked. Lance nodded and then got out of the pod and sat back in a chair. He tugged his shirt up to show smooth skin with a small light scar where the wound once was.

              “Good, I am glad it healed so well. I also have these for you, if you would like them for the other scars.” Coran said, offering Lance two small bottles. Inside looked to be a lotion of some kinds and Lance gave him a smile.

              “Thanks Coran.” He said.

              “You are welcome. Now then, I believe the other Paladins have begun to retire for the night. Shall we find a place for you to settle down for the night?” Coran asked him.

              “Um... I guess? I don’t really know where…” Lance muttered. He didn’t want to go back to Red right now, but he didn’t exactly have a place anywhere else.

              “Keith offered his room in the Black Lion, he said he can stay in Red for the night instead.” Coran told him.

              “What? I can’t take Keith’s room! What about Shiro, shouldn’t he have the room in Black now?” Lance asked quickly.

              “Of course, Shiro already has a room in Black, as the largest Lion, Black has a much more space than the other Lions. Where do you think Shiro has been sleeping all these nights?” Coran said.

              “Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense.” Lance said. “Are you sure Keith is okay with trading?”

              “He looked quite certain to me.” Coran told him, and Lance paused as he considered it.

              “I guess…” He finally admitted, and Coran nodded.

              “I can show you the way, unless you know it already?” He offered.

              “No, I haven’t really been in the Black Lion much.” Lance told him.

              “Well, then follow me!” Coran smiled and got up. Lance did the same and then followed the Altean out of the med bay, back into the hall inside Black. Coran gave him a quick rundown, pointing out which room Shiro was in, then which one was Keith’s. Lance went up and the door automatically opened.

              “I am over in the Blue Lion, but do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything.” Coran told him, and Lance gave a nod.

              “I will, thank you again Coran.” Lance said, and Coran smiled at him.

              “Try and get some more rest. I will see you in the morning.” Coran said, then made his way out of the Black Lion. Lance turned back to the open room. There wasn’t much inside, as Keith didn’t have much from the Castle to bring in the first place. To his surprise though, Cosmo looked up from his spot on the bed.

              “Oh, hey boy. Why aren’t you with Keith?” Lance asked, as he walked inside. Cosmo wagged his tail as Lance came over and sat on the edge of the bed. The wolf scooted closer and pressed his nose into Lance’s hand then licked him. Lance smiled down at him, giving him a few scratches around his ears.

              “Um… Keith is letting me stay here for the night… That okay?” Lance asked. Cosmo gave a small woof, then vanished as he teleported. A moment later, Cosmo reappeared with Lance’s bag in his mouth. He dropped it at Lance’s feet then looked up at him expectantly.

              “I’ll take that as a yes.” Lance chuckled, picking up his bag. He changed into pajamas, then went over to Keith’s bed. He still felt a little weird as he sat down on it again. Lance looked around the small room again, noticing the few things Keith had around. A kit for cleaning his knives, a few pairs of clothes, including his classic red jacket even though it didn’t fit anymore, a bed for Cosmo that the wolf obviously ignored in favor of the main bed, and, to Lance’s surprise, a picture of Keith and Krolia taken by Pidge before Keith’s mother had left to reform the Blades. Cosmo jumped back up onto the bed as Lance leaned over and picked up the photo.

              “I don’t think Keith ever used to smile like this before.” Lance said, and Cosmo looked up at him. “I mean, I don’t know when you found him, but Keith used to be a real grump.” Lance didn’t even mind that he was talking to a dog, besides, the wolf seemed to be listening as intently as the Altean mice ever did.

              “He was all… lone wolf before.” He said with a chuckle, scratching Cosmo’s ears again. “It got really bad for a while when Shiro disappeared, well, I guess he didn’t _disappear,_ he… died.” Lance realized with a pain in his heart. Cosmo nuzzled his hand again, pulling Lance’s attention back to him. “But, now he’s all… calm and collect. I guess all that time with his mom and, well, you, did him good.” He said with a small smile as he pet the wolf.

              “I guess I haven’t really talked to him about what happened out there.” Lance admitted. “It’s weird, not know what happened to him after we were close before. Not that I really asked… it just… feels wrong trying to talk to him now.” He mumbled. “Old Keith was fun to tease and mess around with. Now, I’m just scared he’s going to push me away or ignore me now that he’s all grizzled and grown up.” Lance sighed, flopping down on his back. Cosmo curled up at his side, laying his head over Lance’s stomach.

              “I just… miss him.” Lance whispered, running his hand through the wolf’s fur as he looked up at the ceiling until eventually, the two of them fell asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, this chapter is a little graphic, so please proceed with caution.

2614.07.29 03.46CT

              When Shiro woke up with a start, at first, he had no idea why. There wasn’t a tight feeling in his chest or flashes of lingering memories in his head like he would have with his usual nightmares. He sat up, looking around for what woke him up when he heard it; a muffled shout coming from the next rom over.

              “Keith,” Shiro realized and he was on his feet in an instant. He left his room and went over to the next door over, both doors automatically opening for him. Cosmo looked up at him from the bed, his glowing yellow eyes looking up at Shiro. The wolf whined, then nudged the curled up figure on the bed beside him.

              “No… don’t…” The muffled pleas came in response and Shiro went to the side of the bed.

              “Keith,” Shiro said softly, like the countless times he had done before for Keith when he was younger. The memory was fond and Shiro smiled a little as he knelt down besides the bed.

              “Stop...” Shiro frowned as he didn’t wake up, but his concern grew more as he realized how wrong and hopeless the voice sounded.

              “Keith, it’s just a dream.” Shiro tried, reaching over to touch his shoulder. Cosmo whimpered again and moved closer to Shiro, making the glow coming off the wolf’s pelt to finally light up the body on the bed with a dim light. Shiro froze to the spot as he realized his mistake.

              It wasn’t Keith in the bed, it was Lance. He had kicked off most of the covers and he was curled in on himself. His shirt had ridden up and now Shiro stared in horror at the hand print shape burn that stood out against Lance’s tan skin.

 

//

              “I said _stay down.”_ Shiro hissed from his position over Lance. Below him, the smaller paladin was trembling as Shiro pressed a white-hot hand into Lance’s back.

              “S-Shiro, please don’t!” Lance cried underneath him, trying to hold still but the pain made it difficult.

              “Don’t what?” Shiro asked with a smirk as he kept the boy pinned down to his bed.

              “Please don’t do it again-please, I’ll do anything!” Lance pleaded, tears in his eyes.

              “Anything?” Shiro purred, grinding down on Lance’s ass. They were still fully clothed, with the exception of Lance’s shirt tossed aside on the floor, but Shiro reveled in the pathetic whimper it drove from the other paladin.  

              “Anything! Just not that-please!” Lance cried and Shiro finally pulled his hand away from Lance’s back. He smiled at his work, running a finger down the bright red skin, causing Lance to flinch. Shiro shifted his weight off Lance’s back and he reached up to grab him by his hair.

              “You’re pretty good at begging, let’s find out what else that mouth is good for.” Shiro grinned as he dragged Lance up by the hair, pulling him up to his knees. Blue eyes widened in fear as Lance looked up and Shiro smiled back down at him.

              “Come on, you said _anything_.” Shiro purred, guiding Lance closer as the other hand undid his own belt.

              “Y-Yes Shiro.”

//

 

              Lance jerked awake when Cosmo whined in his ear and headbutted his muzzle into Lance’s side.

              “What? Who?” Lance gasped, sitting up quickly, his heart pounding as the remnants of his nightmare lingered. “What is it boy?” Lance asked, and Cosmo pointedly looked behind him. Fear races through his veins as he turned around quickly. He jerked back, slamming against the wall as he looked up to see Shiro standing over him.

              “S-Shiro!” Lance gasped, his heart pounding until he realized the Shiro didn’t move. The other paladin was locked in place, his hand still slightly outstretched to Lance, but he was shaking worse with each passing moment. His eyes were unfocused, locked on something that wasn’t there. Lance’s eyes widened as he realized Shiro was having a flashback, though he had no idea what Shiro was seeing.

              “Shiro!” Lance said again, and he reached up to touch Shiro’s arm. Instantly, Shiro’s eyes refocused on Lance and he flew back with such force, it startled Lance.

              “G-Get away from me!” Shiro cried as he collapsed to the ground and pressed himself into the far wall. Lance scrambled up and rushed over to him.

              “Shiro, it’s me, Lance!” He said quickly, reaching a hand out, but he didn’t try to touch him again.

              “I-I know-Get back!” Shiro stammered as he pressed away from Lance’s reach. “I hurt you, get away!” Shiro pleaded.

              “No, Shiro, that wasn’t you!” Lance cried, but Shiro shook his head.

              “I-I can remember it.” Shiro chocked out. “I-I can-” He gasped and then, to Lance’s horror, Shiro’s eyes rolled back as his body slumped against the wall and he started convulsing.

              “Oh God- Oh God, Cosmo! Go get help!” Lance shouted as he quickly pulled Shiro away from the wall. Cosmo vanished, and Lance was grateful as Black turned up the lights. He got Shiro onto his side, tears running down his face as there was little more he could do except watch.

              A few ticks later, Cosmo reappeared with an alert Coran and a groggy looking Allura.

              “Coran what is the meaning of-?” Allura started, then her eyes processed the scene in front of her. “Shiro!” She gasped and both of the Alteans were at Lance’s sides in an instant.

              “What happened?” Coran asked as Allura assessed the Black Paladin.

              “I don’t really know! I woke up and Shiro was here, and he was having a flashback. I tried to help but he started having a seizure!” Lance explained quickly and Coran nodded. Allura placed two hands onto Shiro, one on his chest and the other to his forehead. Her hands lit up in a pale blue for a moment, then Shiro finally stopped shaking and went still on the floor.

              “We need to get him to the pod.” Allura said, shifting her form so that her body was a larger size.

              “Allura, what’s happening?” Lance asked as she picked Shiro up off the floor.

              “His soul is starting to reject this body again.” Allura told him, a grave look on her face before she turned and rushed out, Shiro’s unconscious body in her arms.


	18. Chapter 18

2614.07.29 04.07CT

              Lance sat on the floor outside the med bay. His knees were tucked up to his chest and his tears had long since dried, leaving only dried tracks down his cheeks. He sat, listening and waiting as allura and Coran got Shiro into the pod. Cosmo sat at his feet, pressing against his side, but it was little comfort to the paladin. He only looked up when the main door to Black’s back area opened, showing Keith in the doorway.

              “Lance? What happened? Black woke me up, saying something was wrong.” Keith asked quickly.

              “It’s Shiro…” Lance said, and Keith’s eyes widened. “I-I made his soul start rejecting his body again.”

              “What? Is he okay? What happened?” Keith asked quickly.

              “Allura and Coran are inside, they put him in a pod.” Lance said, motioning to the med bay door. Keith looked between the door and Lance.

              “Okay, I’m going to go check on them, I’ll be right back.” Keith promised, but Lance didn’t really believe him. Keith needed to be with Shiro, not him.

              Keith went inside, and the door automatically closed behind him. Lance listened, and though he couldn’t make much out, at least it didn’t sound like anyone was panicking. He sighed and put his forehead against his knees, tried and drained from the rush of fear and guilt the night had turned into.

              Cosmo perked up beside him when the med bay door reopened. Lance looked up, surprised to see Keith actually came back out to him. The other paladin sat down on the floor next to him.

              “…How is he doing?” Lance asked nervously.

              “Allura says he’s stabilized and he should wake up on his own in a few hours.” Keith told him, and Lance finally relaxed a little.

              “That’s good.” Lance said softly.

              “Could you tell me what happened?” Keith asked.

              “I don’t really know… I woke up and he was in my-your room, kind of frozen standing next to the bed. When he snapped out of it, he wanted me to get away and then he passed out of it and started seizing.” Lance said, not having much more to offer Keith than he did Allura and Coran.

              “Why would he be in my room?” Keith asked.

              “I don’t know… I think, maybe, I was having another nightmare? I probably woke him up…” Lance said, trying to think back while Keith’s eyes widened.

              “I’m an idiot.” Keith sighed.

              “What?” Lance asked, confused what this had to do with Keith.

              “I talked to Coran about swapping rooms after Shiro went to bed. He didn’t know it wasn’t me in there.” Keith explained.

              “Oh.” Lance said. “That does make more sense…” he admitted.

              “I’m sorry, it was stupid of me not to make sure Shiro knew.” Keith apologized, and Lance chuckled a little.

              “Yeah, that was pretty dumb. Good going Mullet-head.” He agreed, and Keith smiled.

              “Yeah, yeah. Now, I don’t know how long you’ve been sitting here, but my butt is already going numb. Want to go back to my room and we can sit down on the bed or something?” Keith offered.

              “Shouldn’t you be going back to sleep?” Lance asked, and Keith shrugged.

              “Eh, I’d probably wake up in the next hour or so anyways.” He said, and Lance made a sound of mock disgust.

              “Your sleep schedule horrifies me.” Lance said, and Keith laughed as he got up.

              “Yeah, well, do you want to come or not?” He asked. “Or I can just grab a chair if you want to go back to bed?”

              “No… I don’t think I’ll fall asleep again tonight…” Lance admitted, and he stood up. Keith smiled, then walked with him back to his room inside Black. Keith sat down on the bed and leaned back against the wall, but Lance stayed further away, sitting just on the edge with as the look of worry returned to his face.

              “So… what about you?” Keith asked.

              “What about me?” Lance replied, confused.

              “Well, Shiro’s episodes can be kind of scary… are you alright?” He asked, and Lance grimaced.

              “I’m fine. Shiro’s the one that got hurt, don’t worry about me.”

              “Just because Shiro is the one in a pod, doesn’t mean you’re not affected.” Keith said.

              “When did you get all smart?” Lance muttered with a sigh, looking away from Keith and instead, down at his lap. “It was just… freaky to wake to that. It took me a tick to realize it wasn’t _him_ standing there.” Lance finally admitted.

              “Then I didn’t know what to do. I can only guess at what he was remembering- he just looked so distraught when he told me to get away.” Lance told him. “This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen! Shiro’s suffered enough- I don’t want to put this on him, it’s not his fault!”

              “So you’d rather put it all on yourself?” Keith asked, not accusatory, but wanting to understand more.

              “Yes! You all need Shiro! Me-I’m the expendable one! I can just take it and leave, and then we don’t have this problem!” Lance explained, increasingly frustrated that that he was the only one that seemed to see it.

              “Lance, just because you _can_ doesn’t mean that you _should_.” Keith told him, gently moving over so he was next to Lance.

              “Yeah, but-”

              “No buts, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to answer your calls, and I’m sorry I’ve been an emotionally constipated asshole to you since I got back.” Keith said and Lance looked over at him.

              “You were stuck on a space whale, then the whole Lotor thing, and the Shiro thing…” Lance reasoned.

              “Yeah, and? Those don’t mean I shouldn’t have come talked to you afterwards. Especially after the game show thing.” Keith sighed, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. Lance didn’t reply, not having anything to say to that.              

              “I should have told the Bob guy, and all of you, the truth about why I picked you… I was just embarrassed.” Keith admitted. That got Lance’s attention and he looked up at Keith.

              “What?”

              “You’re so determined, and you have all the right skills. I thought that if any one of us could to the most good, it would be you. I’ve seen how you can inspire people. You have good instincts and find solutions that the rest of us can’t think of, plus you’re the most versatile fighter of us all.  You’ve unlocked three bayard forms, and you’ve piloted two of the Lions of Voltron. And I know you aren’t Black’s biggest fan, but the fact that you’ve been able to talk to her, despite not being her paladin, that means a lot. I have no doubt that you would make a great Black Paladin if you were the one to make it out.” Keith told him, watching as Lance’s eyes misted up.

              “Besides… I know how much you miss Earth. I couldn’t imagine trapping you somewhere you’d never get to see your family, or rain, or the beach again. You have something kinda beautiful inside you… I’d be crushed to see that go out.” Keith added and saw Lance’s cheeks tinge pink.

              “You think I’m beautiful?” Lance asked in and teasing tone and Keith sighed.

              “Is that all you took away from that whole thing?” Keith laughed, and Lance turned a brighter red.

              “No! That’s not what I meant!” Lance flustered as he tried to back track quickly.

              “Well, it is what I meant. Well, not exactly, but… yeah. I think you’re beautiful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy, finally some fluff after all that angst!


	19. Chapter 19

2614.07.29 04.26CT

              “Oh.” Lance said, a little stunned at what to say. “In… like a…?”

              “In like a I’d like to take you out sometime way.” Keith confirmed, and Lance looked down, processing what that meant. On one hand, his heart fluttered and a few months ago he likely would have said yes in a second. On the other hand, he couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. He didn’t know if he could do that right now, he couldn’t see how anyone would be interested in him now… especially after all Keith knew.

              “Keith… I... You deserve a lot better than me.” He said, and Lance moved to get off the bed, but Keith caught his hand.  

              “Lance, you’re the one that deserves better. I’ve messed up a lot, but I want you to know that I’m here for you now.” Keith told him, carefully reaching over to turn Lance’s face back up to him. “And, I know you’re still thinking about leaving… and me being interested you won’t fix anything… but, I hope it helps to know that I’ll support whatever choice you make Lance.”

              “It… It does help.” Lance admitted, and he wasn’t lying. Though he still had his doubts, the conviction and confident in Keith’s words did help, it let him know that someone still believed in him, even if he was having a hard time doing that himself right now. “And I think… going out some time would be nice.”

              “Well, I think we can work on that later. For now, what can I do to help?” Keith asked him, taking Lance a bit by surprise.

              “Um… well, I still don’t know what would happen if I stay…” Lance said. “We still have the Lions issue, and, well, I’m not sure Red and I are on the best terms right now.”

              “Lance, Shiro and I had been talking about it on our trip to Olkarion, and Shiro was planning to step down as a paladin.” He explained, and Lance’s eyes widened.

              “What? Why?”

              “Well, with Allura piloting Blue, we need someone else piloting the new Castle of Lions with Coran. We even started talking with Allura about it so that we could try and design the Castle to have a human commander in place of the Princess.” Keith said.

              “Oh… That makes sense.” Lance said. “And you’re okay with staying in Black?”

              “Yeah. I think my time on the whale helped, or maybe it was all that time with my mom.” Keith chuckled. “I wasn’t ready for it when Shiro disappeared, but I think you and I made a pretty good team leading Voltron. What do you think?” He asked.

              “We did make a pretty good team.” Lance agreed with a small smile.

              “Well, would you be my right-hand man again, Lance?” Keith asked him.

              “I think I have someone I have to talk to first…” Lance said.

              “Do you want me to come with you?” Keith offered.

              “No, you go check on Shiro. I think I should do this alone.”

 

2614.07.29 04.34CT

              “ _My paladin,”_ Red purred as Lance walked up to her. She lowered her jaws, inviting him inside, but Lance paused.

              “Hey Red,” He said, “I guess we should talk.”

              “ _Yes, my paladin, please come in.”_ Red asked him. Lance glanced back at the Black Lion, then sighed and went up the ramp to her cockpit. A feeling of dread hung low in his stomach, but he sat down anyways.

              “So… why did you show Keith everything?” He asked her. “Why not just stop me from leaving if you were going to do that?”

              “ _Would you have been happy if I had done that?”_ Red asked, and Lance looked down. She wasn’t wrong, he would have been upset if she had stopped him. “ _You are my paladin, not my prisoner. I let you go, but when I saw how the others reacted… I saw that I had made the wrong choice. After all their inability to notice the pain you were in, I thought them unworthy of you.”_

              “What?” Lance said, stunned. “You thought _they_ were the unworthy ones?”

              “ _Yes. They failed to see what was going on, and what continued to pain you. But, then you vanished… and… well.”_ Red started, then paused. “ _I believe you would also understand better if I show you.”_ She said, and Lance watched as she pulled up the same screen she had shown Keith.

 

// 2614.07.25 05.37CT //

              Red looked down on the camp, mourning in silence as her sisters began to wake with their paladins. She could sense the presence of her paladin drifting further and further away, and the distance pained her. It was Black who first lowered her maw and Keith and Shiro stepped out. The two were chatting when Keith stopped in his tracks and immediately looked at Red.

              “Keith? What is it?” Shiro asked.

              “Something’s wrong with Red.” Keith said quickly and Red tried to shield her emotions away from the bond with her former paladin.

              “How can you tell? She looks fine…” Shiro said, walking with Keith over to the Red Lion’s feet. She likely looked no different than normal, but it was too late to hide it from Keith, he’d already sensed her distress.

              “She’s upset…” Keith said, and he reached up to her, putting a hand on her leg. “What’s going on Red?”

              “ _I failed. I failed my paladin.”_ She whined softly, knowing that Lance was far enough gone now, that it would do no good to hide the truth.

              “What?” Keith asked, confused, then his eyes widened. “Wait, did something happen to Lance?” He asked quickly.

              “ _My paladin… he is gone.”_ Red told him, and Keith went ridge.

              “What do you mean _gone?_ ” Keith snapped. Shiro’s eyes widened and he quickly turned up to Red the lioness lowered her head and opened her ramp. She did not answer, instead, she remained silent as Keith and Shiro ran inside. They found an empty lion, except for the blue paladin armor and the red bayard sitting on the pilot’s chair.

              “Red, where is Lance?” Keith demanded, his concern coming out as anger as he picked up the bayard.

              “ _Gone.”_ She repeated quietly.

              “Keith, what’s going on?” Shiro asked him and Keith spun around back towards the exit of the cockpit.

              “Red said Lance is gone!” Keith said quickly, then ran out back to their camp. He whistled, and Cosmo appeared at his side in an instant, while Shiro rushed to catch up. “Go get the others, I’m going to go find him.” He said then leaned down to Cosmo and held up the bayard for the wolf to catch a scent. Cosmo gave a small bark, then took off running.

              “Keith wait!” Shiro tried, but Keith had already run after Cosmo. Behind him, the Blue Lion opened up and Allura and Coran stepped out.

              “Shiro? Is everything alright?” Allura asked quickly.

              “Lance is missing.” Shiro told them and Allura looked shocked while Coran looked worried. “Please, can you two get Hunk and Pidge? I need to go get Keith.” He asked them.

              “Of course, I will go fetch Hunk.” Allura said, then headed for the Yellow Lion. Coran gave a small nod then hurried for Green. Shiro took off in the direction that Keith vanished to, leaving Red for a moment as the paladins rushed around.

//

 

// 2614.07.25 05.43CT //

              The team soon regrouped in the campsite. Hunk was trying to keep it together, but the Yellow Paladin was shaking badly as he sat down. Pidge was quiet, looking nervous but determined as she was already typing away on her laptop. Shiro and Keith were the last to join the team, as it took Shiro time to catch up with and bring Keith back.

              “Do we know who took him?” Pidge asked quickly, looking up from her computer.

              “Pidge… no one took him.” Shiro said.

              “Wait, what? But you said he was gone.” She said quickly.

              “He left, Pidge.” Keith said bitterly.

              “He left his armor and his bayard in the cockpit… Everything else of his is gone.” Shiro added.

              “Did he leave a note or anything?” Hunk asked, trying to grasp onto any bit of hope and Shiro shook his head.

              “Not that we saw…” Shiro told them.

              “Look, we don’t know how long he’s been gone and the longer we wait around, the further he goes. He could be hurt out there, so we need to get going.” Keith said. “Pidge, I need you to try and track him down. Hunk, if there is any way for you to help her, do it. Coran, we need as much information about this planet as possible. We know about the market, but we need to know where else Lance could have gone. That leaves Romelle, Allura, Shiro, and I to go find Lance. You three go together, I’ll take Cosmo with me.”

              “Are you sure you should go alone?” Romelle asked.

              “Cosmo is the best tracker we have, and we can cover more ground if we split up.” Keith said, standing up. “Let’s go.”

//

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am totally sick right now, so I am surprised I was able to finish this chapter tonight. I am trying to keep with the posting a chapter every night, but I may not be able to keep that up in the next few days while I'm getting over my strep throat.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your kind words and patience while I was sick! As a treat, have two chapters tonight <3

// 2614.07.25 09.19CT //

              “Keith, come on, we need to regroup and think of another plan.” Shiro’s said into his comm. He had returned to camp with Allura and Romelle already, rejoining Pidge, Coran and Hunk. Keith and Cosmo were still out in the woods of the planet, searching.

              “I’m sure Cosmo can pick the trail back up again Shiro! He just needs a bit more time!” Keith argued and Shiro sighed.

              “Keith… It’s been over three hours and Cosmo lost the trail long ago. Come back, please.” Shiro pleaded. Keith didn’t reply over the comm, instead, he and Cosmo reappeared back in the camp in a flash of light.

              “This is a waste of time, we can still find him out there!” Keith urged. Shiro was about to speak up, but Allura stepped in before he could get another word out.

              “No Keith, you’re wasting time! It does us no good to be searching around blind!” She snapped, and Keith glared at her.

              “Well, do you have a better idea?” He snapped back at her.

              “Yes, in fact, I do.” Allura retorted. “I think we should keep going to Olkarion. Lance obviously isn’t here anymore, we need to keep going on our mission. Besides, if we get the new Castle of Lions, we will be able to track him much better than anything we can do here.”

              “What? We can’t just leave him!” Hunk cried in alarm.

              “We must, staying here is unproductive.” Allura argued.

              “Allura, I understand that the Castle could help, but Lance couldn’t have gotten too far yet.” Shiro said, trying to ease the growing tension in the team.

              “And how are we going to find him? The longer we waste time here, the longer the universe is in danger.” Allura replied.

              “Finding Lance is not a waste of time!” Pidge snapped, setting down her laptop as she glared at the princess.

              “Pidge, that’s not what I meant-!”

              “It wasn’t a waste of time when it was Matt and my dad! Why is Lance any different? He’s our family now!” Pidge demanded, standing up.

              “This is bigger than Lance, this is about Voltron!” Allura reasoned.

              “And Lance is a part of that.” Keith piped up, equally pissed as Allura kept pushing. Hunk looked on the verge of tears at the idea of just leaving, while Keith and Pidge looked ready to tear into the princess. Shiro and Coran looked between them, trying to figure out how to diffuse the situation, but the three gave them little room to interject.

              “Well, now that Shiro is healed, we can still operate the Black and Red Lions-” Allura pointed out and Keith’s eyes flashed.

              “Don’t even finish that thought Allura.” He hissed, and the princess looked startled at the anger in his voice. “Lance is the Red Paladin now, we’re not just abandoning him here.”

              “Everyone, please, we are not abandoning Lance!” Shiro finally cut in, drawing their attention away from each other. “We are not leaving Lance here, we just need a better plan if we are going to find him, okay?” He said. Keith shot Allura a look, but she backed down and returned to sit between Coran and Romelle.

              “Okay, Pidge, have you been able to find anything?” Shiro asked and Pidge picked her laptop back up.

              “No, I’m still modifying the code I used for Matt and my dad to find Lance instead…” She said, sounding disappointed in herself.

              “That’s good, you were able to find a lot of information that way, so I am sure we will be able to find something soon. We didn’t find anything in the surrounding area, so I think we need to try the one source we haven’t yet.” Shiro said then looked to Keith, then the Red Lion. “Keith, I think you should try talking with Red.”

              “If Lance left… why would Red tell us anything?” Keith asked, looking unsure.

              “It’s worth a shot. I know you want to get back out there, but Red might be our best bet at finding a place to start.” Shiro told him.

              “Alright… I can try.” He nodded.

              “Thank you, Keith.” Shiro said and while Keith went to the Lion, Shiro turned back to the rest of the team.

              “I… I need to return to Blue.” Allura announced and she got up and left the group. Shiro watched her go, worried, but she looked like she needed to cool off. Coran and Romelle went after her and Hunk looked up back up at Shiro.

              “We’re not going to leave Lance, right Shiro?” Hunk asked nervously.

              “No, we’re not leaving without him Hunk.” Shiro assured him.

              “Of course we’re not!” Pidge snapped before Shiro could get in a word.

              “But what if we can’t find him?” Hunk said quickly.

              “We’re not leaving without Lance!” She shot back, her anger growing as Hunk’s panic did.

              “But Lance is really smart, what if he doesn’t want to be found? What if he’s already off world? There’s all of space out there! He could be anywhere!” Hunk cried.

              “No, he can’t! Unless he magically got a wormhole, he has to be close! I’m going to find him and drag his sorry ass back here when I do!” Pidge shouted, her voice starting to break as tears swelled up in her eyes.

              “But… but why would he leave?” Hunk asked, looking lost and heartbroken as he stared down at the ground.

              “I don’t know!” Pidge cried, shoving her laptop aside. “I-I don’t know, but I’m going to get him back.” She said as tears finally started spilling down her face. Hunk’s eyes widened as he realized he had pushed her too far and Shiro quickly went over to her as Pidge furiously tried to wipe away her tears.

              “Katie, you’re right, we’re going to find him.” Shiro promised her and gently pulled the smallest paladin into his arms. Pidge pushed back at first, then let out a hiccuping sob.

              “S-Stupid Lance! Why would he leave us?” Pidge chocked out.

              “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.” Shiro soothed, pulling her in close.

              “What a jerk… right after I thought I got all my family back.” Pidge whimpered against Shiro’s chest. Hunk couldn’t contain himself anymore and Shiro summoned him over as Hunk’s cries joined Pidge’s own sobs.

              “Don’t say that, we’ll get him back before you know it, I promise.” Shiro told them both, holding onto the two of them while he tried to keep his own composure for the sake of his friends.

//

              When Red stopped the video, Lance again had tears in his eyes.

              “I didn’t even think about Pidge and how she would react…” He started, looking ashamed.

              “ _That was not why I showed you this, my paladin. It was not to feel guilt, but to witness how much you matter to your friends and how important you are to this team.”_ Red interjected.

              “But… Pidge and Hunk…”

              “ _Care deeply for you. But there was more in your absence than just tears, the balance of the paladins crumbled in your stead.”_ Red said as Lance wiped his eyes.

              “ _While they may not have realized it before now, you bring balance to this team. You cool Keith’s temper and force him to think before he acts. You challenge Allura’s stubbornness and remind her that all of you, including herself, are people before you are paladins. To Pidge and Hunk you bring light, joy, and brothership. You protect and care for them in ways they do not realize. For Coran you bring companionship, which is most needed in the longing and lost you both share. And for Shiro, you help keep the weight of the world off his shoulders, though sometimes you take on too much of it yourself.”_ Red purred to him.

              “ _You are the heart of Voltron, my paladin, and while your team failed you in the past, I believe they have learned from their mistakes.”_ She said, then continued. “ _I hope that you can find it within yourself to give them another change, and, possibly, to forgive me. I broke your trust in an effort to bring you back and instead, I only pushed you further away. I am sorry, my cub.”_ Red purred softly and Lance looked up.

              “If I could hug you right now Red, I would.” Lance said and both paladin and Lion laughed. “Thank you for finding me again, and I think you’re right. Let’s give this whole Voltron thing another shot.” He said with a bright smile and Red purred loudly in his mind.

              “ _Thank you, my cub.”_


	21. Epilogue

2614.09.18 17.24CT

              “Are you sure about this? I mean, what if we get attacked and need Voltron? Or the Blades call and I miss it? Or-?” Keith rambled as his nerves got the better of him.

              “Keith, relax, nothing is going to happen while you’re gone. Besides, if it does, Red will get the both of you back here in time to help.” Shiro told him with a chuckle as he put his new mechanical hand on Keith’s shoulder.

              “Yeah, but what if I screw this up? I don’t want him to hate me again...” Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair.

              “He’s not going to hate you, you’re just nervous about your first date.” Shiro reassured him.

              “But I’m bad at this! I’ve never done it before!” Keith whined.

              “Then how do you know you’re bad at it?” Shiro countered. “You’ll do fine Keith, first dates are always scary beforehand.”

              “Yeah? And what about yours?” Keith shot back, doubting Shiro shared that experience.

              “Me? I thought the world was ending and that Adam had only said yes as a joke.” Shiro told him, to Keith’s surprise.

              “But Adam would never do that!” Keith said.

              “Yeah, but I was too nervous to think like that, just like you think that Lance is going to hate you.” Shiro said. “You’re going to have a great time, now, do you have everything you need?” Shiro asked.

              “Yeah, all ready to go.” Keith said, taking a moment to shake off his nerves before he picked up the bag he had packed.

              “Great, not go out there before you’re late.” Shiro told him and Keith smiled.

              “Thank you, Shiro.” Keith said with a soft smile before he headed for the door of the room he was staying in on Olkarion.

              “You’re welcome, and Keith?” Shiro said and Keith paused in the doorway.

              “Yeah?” Keith asked.

              “Treat him well, okay?” Shiro told him, an unsaid “better than I did” hanging on his lips. Keith gave him a look of concern, but he nodded.

              “I will.” He promised, then headed out towards the Lions’ hangar.  

 

2614.09.18 17.24CT

              “Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave right now?” Hunk asked nervously.

              “Hunk, Keith said we’re not even going that far. If you’re really worried, just have Pidge track the Red Lion while we’re gone.” Lance told him as he straightened out his shirt.

              “Already on it.” Pidge said from her spot on Lance’s bed, laptop in hand.

              “See, Pidgeon’s got me covered!” Lance smiled and Pidge grunted at the nickname.

              “I know… I’m just worried…” Hunk sighed.

              “I know buddy, but I’m not going far, we’ll be back by tonight, promise.” Lance assured him. Hunk gave a little smile, then jerked as a loud shout startled him.

              “No! No! No! That’s hardly fair!” Allura cried out as Romelle cackled.

              “Haha! Take that Princess!” Romelle cheered, looking victorious as the Killbot Phastasm I screen flashed with “Player 2 Wins!”

              “I don’t understand how this game can be so difficult!” Allura whined, leaning back against the edge of Lance’s bed with a huff. They had set up the console in his room, and now Lance and Hunk laughed as Romelle only smiled brighter.

              “I’m sure you will conquer her next time Princess!” Coran cheered.

              “It’s really not that hard when you learn from the best” Romelle preened, reaching up and she and Pidge fist bumped.

              “Excuse you, I believe I still have the high score here!” Lance said in mock offense.

              “Not for long, I think Romelle will have you beat by the end of the night while you’re off with lover-boy.” Pidge teased and Lance blushed.

              “That’s not far!” He cried and the room laughed again. “Ugh, fine, but be prepared to go down tomorrow Romelle!” He challenged and the Altean girls giggled.

              “Sure, thing Lance!” Romelle laughed, then Coran piped up.

              “Lance, don’t you have somewhere to be?” He reminded and Lance looked at the time.

              “Quiznak!” he yelped and quickly tugged on his shoes.

              “Have fun Lance!” “Have a good time!” Hunk and Allura called after him as Lance gave them a way then ran out the door.

              “See you all later!” Lance called, going down the hall. He turned a corner, and ran right into a startled Shiro.

              “Whoops, sorry Shiro!” Lance said quickly as Shiro caught him from falling over.

              “No problem, you alright?” He asked and Lance nodded.

              “I should have been watching where I was going.” He said. “Ah, do you know where Keith is?” he asked, glancing behind Shiro, kind of expecting Keith to be with him.

              “He just headed out to meet you at Red.” Shiro told him.

              “Oh! Perfect!” Lance said. “Wait, where are you going?” He asked, realizing that Shiro was going the opposite direction of where Keith and his rooms were located.

              “Ah, your room actually…” Shiro said with an embarrassed chuckled. “Pidge and Coran insisted on showing me a new game? They said they played it with my clone and had a good time, so I should try it out.”

              “Aww what, you guys are playing Monsters and Mana without us?” Lance said and Shiro chuckled.

              “Yeah, I think that’s what they called it.” He agreed.

              “Well, they’re right, it is fun. I’m sure you’ll kill it, and later, we can teach Keith to play!” Lance said with a smile and Shiro chuckled.

“Speaking of, he’s waiting for you.” He added and stepped out of Lance’s way. “Have a good time tonight, Lance.”

              “Thanks, Shiro.” Lance said with a little nod then he continued down the hallway. Shiro watched him go, relieved to see the Red Paladin feeling more like himself. 

 

2614.09.18 17.34 CT

              Lance rushed up to the hanger where they were keeping the Lions to see Keith already waiting at Red’s feet.

              “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to be late.” Lance apologized quickly, but Keith just smiled at him.

              “No worries, now come on.” He said, then walked up into the Lion with Lance right behind. Keith took the pilot’s seat and Lance stood behind him as they took off and flew out of the Olkari base.

              “So… do I get to know where we’re going yet?” Lance asked.

              “That would ruin the surprise Lance.” Keith chuckled.

              “You know, I always thought I’d be the one wooing you with mystery dates and romantic gestures.” Lance teased.

              “Well, looks like I beat you again.” Keith replied with a smirk.

              “What? It’s not a race!” Lance sputtered.

              “Isn’t it always with you?” Keith teased and Lance stuck his tongue out at him. Keith laughed then checked his map.

              “Okay, now close your eyes or something.” Keith told him. Lance gave him a pouty face, but Keith insisted so he signed and closed his eyes. He held onto the pilot’s chair a little tighter as he felt Keith bring them down and land.

              “Now follow me.” Keith said and he pulled Lance’s hand off the chair and into his own. Lance’s heart fluttered as Keith interlaced their fingers and guided them out of the cockpit and down the ramp. Lance’s attention perked as the sound of waves meet his ears and he nearly stumbled as Keith lead him off Red’s solid ramp and onto shifting sand.

              “Alright… you can look now.” Keith said, though he didn’t let go of Lance’s hand.

              Lance opened his eyes and sucked in a breath. In front of them stretched one of Olkarion’s oceans. The beach sand was a deep red and the sky tinted a light yellow, but the water lapped at the shore much like Earth’s own seas. Lance was quiet, taking it all in and Keith pulled his bag off his shoulder.

              “I recruited Hunk to steal your swimsuit, and I brought towels and stuff so we could go swimming.” Keith told him, a bit nervous from Lance’s silence. “Do… Do you like it?” he asked nervously when Lance still didn’t reply. Lance looked over to him, then lit up in a bright smile.

              “Keith, this is amazing!” He cried and wrapped his arms around him. He leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Keith’s cheek, then turned back towards the ocean while Keith turned red.

              “Come on!” Lance said excitedly, tugging Keith towards the water.

              “Shouldn’t we change?” Keith protested, but he dropped his bag as Lance dragged him along until the two of them were standing knee deep in the waves.

              “Lance I brought swimsuits for a reason!” Keith whined, but he lost his words as he looked up to see Lance, one arm outstretched, one still holding Keith’s own, basking in the sunlight and the smell of the ocean breeze. It was the most at peace Keith had ever seen him, and he couldn’t help but stare for several moments until Lance looked back at him.

              “Thank you, Keith, this was really nice of you.” Lance said sincerely, then leaned in and gently pressed his lips against Keith’s. Keith was startled, but he quickly leaned into the kiss, holding Lance close until Lance pulled back first.

              “Hey Keith… did you bring any sunscreen?” Lance asked, taking Keith by surprise at the change of topic.

              “Uh, yeah, I think-”

              “Because you’re burning me up!” Lance snickered and Keith paused as he processed what just happened.

              “That was so lame!” Keith groaned and Lance broke out laughing.

              “Wait! Wait, I can do better!” Lance gasped between laughed. “Somebody call a lifeguard! Because I’m drowning in your eyes!” Lance purred with a wiggle of his eyebrows, watching as Keith blushed a brighter red.

              “Oh my god, you are terrible!” Keith cried, but he was clearly trying hard not to laugh. Before Lance could try another one, Keith let go of his hand, reached down, and then splashed Lance in the face. Lance sputtered for a moment, then a wicked smile spread across his face.

              “Oh, you’ve made a grave mistake Mullet!” Lance called and Keith yelped then took off running through the water with Lance hot on his heels. Eventually, Lance caught up, and with a surprised shout and a chorus of laughter, the two of them tumbled down into the water with Lance ending up on top of Keith. The two of them chuckled, then Keith smiled up at the boy above him.

              “Thanks for coming out with me Lance.” He said sweetly and Lance smiled.

              “You think we should go get swimsuits on yet?” Lance chuckled.

              “I think it’s a little late for that.” Keith laughed. “But yeah, if we want our clothes to dry, let’s go get changed.” He agreed. Lance got up, then helped Keith to his feet. They were both thoroughly soaked, but neither really minded as they walked back over to the Red Lion, hands laced back together as she welcomed her paladins inside.

End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all the love and support I got during this fic! It's the first one I have written in a while, and I really enjoyed it. Thank you for giving me the motivation to see it through, and I hope you all enjoyed my small contribution to the fandom! 
> 
> You're welcome to come poke me on my tumblr as well! Find me at http://heyhay13.tumblr.com/


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